INVISIBLE VOICES: Treeline Artist Grants 2020

A group exhibition by Kong Siden, Hul Kanha, Prak Dalin, Prum Ero, So Vitou, and Tyl Kan
November 21 2020 – February 28 2021

After rigorous selection of proposals and 10 months of concept development, research, experimentation and production of projects, Treeline Gallery is honored to present the Treeline Artist Grants 2020 group exhibition. Six talented emerging local artists, including Kong Siden, Hul Kanha, Prak Dalin, Prum Ero, So Vitou and Tyl Kan, were selected and given the platform to produce original artworks and present a collective exhibition. The featured artworks employ paintings, photography, sculptures and installations. They do not draw upon the same topic, but rather each artist presents individual ideas, ways of thinking, seeing, and exploring. Through their creations, the artists send us personal messages almost as if they were building an “Invisible Voice”.   

As a documentarian, Ero Prum works with photography and videography. His interest in nature and architecture inspires his exploration of the intricate relationship between the natural environment and  architectural landscapes in his works. Ero became captivated by the environment underwater when he began scuba diving in 2019. He perceives coral reefs as beautiful forms of architecture, though in this case, they are built by nature. Coral reefs are complex architectural landscapes in an ecosystem where creatures and shelters co-depend. They resemble clusters of communities with different groups of species living in each coral community. His artistic research and artwork deals with site-specific nature and urban settings. He mindfully experiments with artistic light intervention and these coral reef “architectural landscapes”. Ero uses lines of light around and across the coral reefs to illuminate an urgent call for public consciousness around these wondrous natural architectures and as an artistic representation of a protective boundary. He draws the audiences’ attention to these beautiful, natural “architecture” that are endangered due to human-made pollution and environmental degradation. Ero captured this series of photographs in Koh Kong, the southern part of Cambodia.

Aligned with the evolving of life, Prak Dalin’s work highlights her interest in transforming construction material to create sculptures and site-specific installations that appear as architectural structures to portray the impact of urban development. Her two sculptures and site-specific installation are inspired by the roof of traditional Khmer houses, and are sculpted from memory to reconstruct and position these architectural works differently from the original structures. The two sculptures are displayed inside the gallery space, and the site-specific installation is outside the gallery along the riverbank in front of Treeline Urban Resort to reflect traditional Khmer wooden houses along the river. The sculptures and installation sit at the intersection of two eras in Cambodia – underdeveloped and developing.  

Hailing from a family in Siem Reap, and growing up surrounded by temples and greenery, So Vitou has been fascinated by architecture and nature since childhood. Vitou presents two installations and one drawing for Invisible Voice, surfacing the underlying elements of the connections between time, space and nature. City I is an abstraction of the Angkorian temple towers, conjuring the harmonious coexistence between nature and temple. The installation is made from one continuous metal wire, shaped to resemble growing vine plants. He responds to this with City II, a drawing which reflects the above towers, making them appear upside down to represent the collapse of the city. Moss, Vitou’s second installation, likewise begins with one continuous metal wire into an organic structure which audiences can walk through. A play on light and shadows casted on the audience’s skin while standing under the installation is reminiscent of moss growing on the temples, inviting viewers to contemplate their bodies and environment in states of change, transformation, harmony, decay, and destruction. 

Kahna Hul is inspired by a well-known proverb, which reads “Women have 100 hands”. Kahna is reminded of her mother and other women, who “As women, we must engage in endless multi-tasking in our roles as wives, mothers, housekeepers, cleaners, cooks, and our various other roles.” Through this proverb, she creates “100 Hands” with her community in Kralanh District, Siem Reap where she grew up. Kanha held workshops with friends and the local women, and during these workshops, she became inspired by their stories. She captured her inspiration in photos featuring the female villagers’ hands sewing together a sarong, the landscape of sarong with the villagers in the ricefield, and the vibrant sarongs engulfed by trees. “100 Hands” presents part of Kahna collaborative project with the community and her family. She pays honor to the voices and stories that villagers shared with her, and photographed the moments to document what she heard as visuals. At the same time, she brings attention to this proverb, “Women have 100 hands”, through her artwork. Her six selected photographs combine mixed media elements to printed photographs, including paper-cuts, paint, and ink. In this exhibition, she presents six mixed media works and the sarong that villagers sewed together as an installation.  

Surroundings change, humans evolve and memories blur as time passes. Technologies have outgrown and taken over the modern age. The next generation of Cambodia, now more than ever have suffered a lot in both personal and cultural identity. In acting out these identity concerns, Tyl Kan creates three large paintings using canvas. Her medium is oil/acrylic, which she uses to narrate and represent the sense of loss of identity in the transition of time and environment. She also contemplates this issue in a short film. “Self-identity” as a person, a citizen and part of a new generation can be confusing when time forces us to constantly move forward. The past is being forgotten as previous generations perish into history. She hopes this series will be a reminder for her generation to start making positive waves or movements by showing where they are standing right now.  

Meanwhile, Siden’s work shows us his interest in sacrifice. He explores this in various forms of sacrifice: war sacrifice, religious sacrifice, self-sacrifice, animal sacrifice, and the sacrifice of nature. Siden began his artistic research by experimenting with multiple mediums and decided to use metal and paints as his primary mediums for this work. In the idea to create the series "Sacrifice," he creates a symbol made of square, flat metal cuts covered in red to pray and remind us of the lives of those who have suffered and the sacrifices they made when they were alive.

As a collective exhibition, the six artists’ works shine light on nature, the landscape of change, humanity and society. These are courageous choices, and Treeline Gallery is humbled to stand behind the talented artists and their work. Treeline Artist Grants 2020 Exhibition aims to not only provide the space at Treeline Gallery for exhibition, but also to serve as a platform for artists to develop their research, work, and practice. We hope to bring new possibilities for the art community in Siem Reap and across Cambodia through this year’s exhibition at Treeline Gallery, and to enable the artists we collaborate with to reach the next level in their artistic journeys. Treeline Artist Grants are supported by ISI GROUP.  

THE CITIES by Eng Rithchandaneth, Prak Dalin, Sao Sreymao
February - April 2020

The exhibition brings together three contemporary artists, Eng Rithchandaneth, Prak Dalin and Sao Sreymao. The title, The Cities, is inspired by the body of their work. The exhibition pays attention to the practice of these emerging artists and highlights their concern and close relationship with what is currently happening and will happen in their cities and country. It also explores the different ways artists create their works through photographs, sculptures and installation.

In the gallery, we create a conversation between artworks. The series of Merge by Prak Dalin features: one hanging installation, one floor-standing sculpture and two sculptures displayed on a stand. Her sculptures utilize construction materials, which reflect the growth of the country and the impact of the intertwined development of nature and humans. Dalin explores the construction of myths and how they are fueled by interpretations.

Black Seaweed by Eng Rithchandaneth features four sculptures displayed on stand. Inspired by her previous work, Parasite, she developed this new series based on recent research trying to understand how best to use materials. Two of her sculptures look like a snag tree and the mushrooms that grow on it. The other two are made of layers of wood-ear mushrooms. This shows the artist’s willingness to allow her work to evolve according to the material’s qualities and natural environment, reflecting the current economic development landscape.

Sao Sreymao presents six photographs. She uses photography of the city combined with digital layering to create stamps of the cityscape. She expresses the anxiety emanating from the city’s transformation, its loss of connection with nature, and yearns for a better thought out version of her city. In this exhibition, her focus has been on the city’s daily life, questioning the reality and fiction of the “image” through humor.

In conclusion, my curatorial approach and the artists in this exhibition are interested in the artistic expression, reflection and question regarding the development of the city, not just in our home country but globally. The exhibition shows the viewer that there is always an element of imagination and falseness hidden behind the representation that surrounds us.

Meta Moeng, Art Curator

THE SHADOW OF CHANGE II by YIM Maline
October 27, 2019 - January 31, 2020

Treeline Gallery is pleased to present Yim Maline’s first solo exhibition in the gallery, The Shadow of Change II. This exhibition features four tissue paper sculptures and ten mixed media works, wall-mounted paper works with many layers.

The title of this exhibition is continuing her series from her solo exhibition in Singapore with Richard Koh Fine Art, The Shadow of Change. For The Shadow of Change II, her works are inspired by her observations and feelings during a recent family trip to the rapidly transforming province of Kampong Som, which is a hotspot for foreign investment and construction in Cambodia, inspiring for Maline a reflection on identity and what is happening in her home country and also for the global environment.

The artist’s ten drawings are inspired from the life-cycle and the nature around her. These drawings are displayed in specially made frames with two layers of glass; one layer in front and one layer at the back, to reflect and reveal the volume of the body of works. At the same time, the four sculptures, titled Sela (Rock), Sam Nol (Remnants), Changkom (Cluster), and Rolok (Waves), are inspired by the waves of life and the changes in society that have significant effects on nature. The artist creates imaginary forms of things she saw during her trip which were then stored as images in her head; these forms are in fact connected to Maline’s internal state of mind, and they document this as witnesses to those complexities and concepts in her work.

TI PRASAP
July 21 - Sept 30, 2019

The third exhibition at Treeline Gallery is a collaboration between Treeline Gallery and private collector Larry Strange, bringing together a collection of cross-disciplinary works from artists Chan Dany, Chhim Sothy, Khchao Touch, Khvay Samnang, Leang Seckon, Meas Sokhorn, Mil Chankrim, Oeur Sokuntevy, Sopheap Pich, Sao Sreymao, Svay Ken and Vandy Rattana.

The exhibition title comes from the title of Larry Strange’s collection catalog, “Ti Prasap”, which is closely translated in English as “confluence” or “where streams meet”. Many streams come together in these works - traditional and modern, figurative and abstract, urban and rural, personal and political, younger and older generations, and various media, from oil painting to watercolour, ink drawing, rattan, photography, and­ sculpture. The diverse practices of the artists selected for this exhibition reflect not only the exploration of their own contested histories but also of current power structures, economic development and people’s everyday lives. 

Learning From the Past: The Vann Molyvann Project
April 7 – June 30, 2019

In collaboration with The Vann Molyvann Project, Treeline Gallery presents a unique exhibition. This offers the opportunity to see for the first time rare models by The Vann Molyvann Project all together, including their most recent creation, a model of the Sangkum Reastr Niyum Exhibition Hall, which has just returned from Korea. The title of the exhibition, Learning From the Past is inspired by Vann Molyvann’s words, which he often repeated while talking with students and researchers. The exhibition consists of photographs, drawings and twelve models; each model represents one building typology in which Vann Molyvann worked. Drawings, as well as photographs sourced from private collections, give viewers a glimpse into the scale and scope of these projects.

FACE FORWARD
January 26 - March 31, 2019

Treeline Gallery’s first group exhibition, Face Forward, pays attention to the past and looks forward from now to the future. The exhibition features artworks by Sopheap PICH, THANG Sothea, NOV Cheanick, Asasax, and HKA & Partners.

Each of the featured artists address the past through their practice of  contemporary art, highlighting questions regarding consumption and production. Some of the works reflect the transfer of knowledge, exposing a process that is usually reserved for the artist’s studio. These artists are  active at a time that has a completely different precondition to that of their forbearers. They have their roots in history in different ways, each telling their story uniquely, and making their artworks come alive in their own ways.

By bringing together Cambodian artists from different generations and with divergent practices, this exhibition in the historic city of Siem Reap invites a special reflection on these various connections. The selection of works in the exhibition are from the collection of Treeline Urban Resort, and the collections of the artists.