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b.1974 Prey Veng, Cambodia
Leang Seckon’s name card reads “Freedom Artist”. He uses this title to differentiate himself from the word his language gives artists, neak salapak gor, which refers to an artisan. He is perhaps the most well known artist to Cambodians, having popularized The Rubbish Project, his ongoing work with communities around Cambodia to raise awareness about the environment both on site and through national television. His most recent project, Naga (2008), was a 225-meter serpent made of bamboo and reclaimed clear plastic installed in the Siem Reap River for World Water Day.
Through his art, Leang shows social and political concern through various collage techniques using various reclaimed materials.
In Gam Chendal, or The Ladder, Leang pieces together 20th century Cambodian history with materials and images from or representative of different political periods including the French Protectorate, Japanese occupation, Independence, the civil war, the Khmer Rouge Regime, Vietnamese rule, United Nations Transitional Authority, and the current Constitutional Monarchy of The Kingdom of Cambodia.
Jerut Khmer means What is Khmer? Seckon has incorporated a wide range of materials including a poem from a 1980s secondary school book reminding children to not forget the “Killing Fields”. Next to this is a photo of a woman from Preah Vihear temple, a contended border territory between Thailand and Cambodia. Images of traditional food are juxtaposed with a medicine wrapper to comment on a modern dependence on processed pills rather than inherited traditional foods or medicines.
Prison Guard represents the life cycle of the Khmer Rouge’s Tuol Sleng prison Director, Duoch. Seckon believes that Duoch was born innocent and was later manipulated by Khmer Rouge ideology, shown in his work by the Democratic Kampuchea wreath framing a child’s face. Today, Duoch is currently in prison pending trial through the United Nations backed Extraordinary Chambers Court of Cambodia for Crimes Against Humanity. Earlier this decade, Duoch became a Christian. Seckon depicts him as a saint and on a cross with blood and a backdrop of the 2006’s Singapore Biennial’s iconic Christian image and theme Belief.
Three Greens lightly comments on the chaos of Cambodian society today. The Khmer calendar of animals and floating license plate numbers are the background to school children and traffic lights. As traffic lights and traffic law enforcement are new concepts to Cambodia, Seckon observes people adjusting to order. Mostly, he says, “People see three greens.”
Leang Seckon graduated with a BA in Design from the Royal University of Fine Arts in 2002, having first completed a BA in painting. Since then, he has exhibited new bodies of paintings and collage work throughout Cambodia, and in Singapore, Norway, and the United States. He was a Sovereign Asian Art Prize finalist in 2005 and was chosen to represent Cambodia in the 4th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial in 2009.
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