Leang Seckon
Site B Refugees in Thailand in the 80s Period, 2009
Mixed media on canvas
Original Sizes Available:
90 x 50 cm
90 x 50 cm
The other title for this (the original title) was Building on the Border. Around the red faces are landmines, and the black barbed wire fence at the top is the...
The other title for this (the original title) was Building on the Border. Around the red faces are landmines, and the black barbed wire fence at the top is the border with Thailand. This work is about a family which lives very close to my Studio at Boeung Kak lake in Phnom Penh. They were refugees, supported by the UN. The life of the mother with all of her children is shown here. She told me a lot about when she lived there, in the camp. She used to make wedding costumes, and all her kids went to school and stayed in small buildings close by one another. They are all very open inside, they feel like their lives are free but they are living within the fence of the camp. They cannot come to Cambodia because of the landmines, yet they cannot go to Thailand because of the border. All the time they prayed to the Buddha, because they wanted to come back to Cambodia. The image of the dragonfly at the top right I made for them to give them more freedom, because the dragonfly can fly anywhere. But also, they wanted to go to America. The famous singers from that time are shown as the two women in the yellow leaves as well as the guy in the black circle all in the lower left quarter of the work. People loved to listen to that guy's voice; He lives in the USA but he sings about the camp, and the songs are all sad songs about life of people in the camp.