Khmer Traditional "Trot" Dance Performances Start

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A rare find [-Rare Khmer artefacts to return to Cambodia]

BODY OF WORK: Douglas Latchford, above, in his Bangkok apartment. Below, one of his rare Khmer items.


RED RAMPAGE: Tyres were set on fire right below Douglas Latchford’s Bangkok apartment.
PHOTOS: PORNPROM SATRABHAYA

He's a collector of ancient artefacts, and also has an interest in bodybuilding, but his passion is Khmer art

12/09/2010
Alan Parkhouse
Bangkok Post

Long-time Bangkok resident Douglas Latchford is already the biggest contributor to the National Museum of Cambodia, and now he's planning to donate more rare ancient Khmer artefacts. Mr Latchford has been collecting Khmer stone sculptures and works in bronze and gold for the past 54 years, and is not only one of the world's leading experts on Khmer artefacts, but also a generous donor to Cambodia's main museum.

He recently donated US$190,000 (about six million baht) to the museum to install new lighting.

"In June last year we had a presentation to the Phnom Penh museum and I collected $190,000 to change the lighting in the museum - it hadn't been changed since the 1940s," he said.

"There were wires hanging loose and there was no neon lighting. I collected the money from several donors and I gave some pieces to the museum, and deputy prime minister Sok An came and made a speech and gave me a Khmer title, Neak Okhna, a Royal title.

"The old lighting was just big florescent lights in the ceiling that didn't highlight any of the works there. Now there are spotlights and proper lighting so people can appreciate and see the finer features of the works on display."

Later this year, to coincide with a new book he is publishing on bronze Khmer sculptures, Mr Latchford plans to donate four more ancient pieces of Cambodia's history to the museum.

One of the items he plans to donate is extremely rare - a finely detailed boat prow made of bronze, which is the only one of its kind ever found.

"These things fitted over the pointed wooden bow of the boat, and this particular one is also depicted in the stone relief on the south wall of the Bayon temple," he said. "It's a beautiful piece and the only boat prow of its kind ever found. It will be among the items I hand over somewhere between October this year and January next year when my new book is finally ready to publish."

Mr Latchford's love affair with Khmer sculpture started 54 years ago, and it shows no sign of fading - in fact, it's as solid as some of the rare pieces in his extensive collection. During an interview in his lavishly decorated apartment in central Bangkok, the Thai and Khmer-speaking Englishman spoke of his long association with Asian art. However, his love affair with sculptures started far from Phnom Penh.

"I lived in south India from 1951 to 1954 and I had an affinity towards Indian sculpture. I was born in India and lived there until I was 12 and was sent to England to study. There, during the war, I was subjected to books like Jungle Book by Kipling, and I found deserted temples in the jungle fascinating.

"At that time I started to really admire Indian bronzes, particularly those from the Chola period - they range from the ninth to 13th century. I came to Thailand in 1955 and was introduced to a dealer here called Connie Mangskau, and she was probably the most reliable dealer in Southeast Asian art, particularly Khmer and Thai.

"And through Connie I met Jim Thompson, and we became quite friendly."

Jim Thompson is the legendary American resident of Thailand credited with starting the Thai silk industry. He went missing in 1967 in Malaysia, and his body was never found. His disappearance led to almost as many conspiracy theories as the JFK assassination. To this day, shops selling Thai silk bearing the Jim Thompson name are some of the must-visited tourist places in Thailand.

"Jim had been collecting primarily Thai art, and in the collection there were a few Khmer pieces. I asked him where they came from, and he said Korat, Ayutthaya and Lop Buri. He used to go around the shops in Bangkok in an area they then called Nakhon Kasem, or thieves market, in an old part of Bangkok near Yaowarat, and I started to go there and look.

"I became seriously interested in about 1957 when I met a Frenchman called Francois, who was an adviser to American heiress Doris Duke, and he showed me this female stone torso, minus head, arms and feet, about 24 inches high. It had an immediate effect on me that would change my life.

''I was smitten by it, and Francois told me about an identical one for sale in the thieves market, so I went around the next day and bought it. That was my first sculpture. That was in about 1957. I still have it, but it's at my place in london.

''These days I have about 50 to 60 pieces in total.''

For many, collecting ancient artifacts is a business, and at times a very profitable one, but not for Mr Latchford . He made his money many years ago working for an English firm's Bangkok branch.

''We sold pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, chemicals, a bit of everything. I was the branch manager here in Bangkok, and that's what I started off doing. We were one of the first big foreign firms importing goods into this part of the world.

''The earliest big foreign companies here were Barrow Brown and the Borneo Company, then Anglo Thai started. I was sent here to be their assistant manager.

''The first place I lived in Bangkok was where the Australian Embassy now is. It was a three-storey apartment building belonging to a prince. I lived there for five years. There were two apartment buildings in Bangkok then _ the one I lived in where the Australian Embassy is now, and if you turned down Soi Suan Phlu there was another one just around the corner from Sathorn Road. The second one belonged to another prince.''

Mr Latchford now lives on Soi Chidlom in the heart of Bangkok on land he bought many years ago. ''When I first bought this block of land my Thai friends wanted to know why I bought property in a slum area,'' he said. ''They don't say that any more.''

The only drawback to living in the heart of the capital city happened earlier this year. ''The red shirts set up a big barricade of tyres on the bridge over the canal outside my place and parked a big truck in the middle of the road. They told my neighbours the truck was full of explosives.

''The day the army moved on them they set fire to the tyres and the truck, so my driver and chef grabbed a fire hose and went out and fought the fire. Then they came under fire from the red shirts, then the army troops started shooting back, so my guys had bullets going over their heads from in front of them and from behind them. They bravely stood their ground and put out the fires.''

Mr Latchford not only collects artworks, it seems he's also quite good at collecting passports.

''I took out Thai citizenship 36 years ago. My daughter and my bodybuilder chef talked to two priests some time back, independent of each other, and both of the priests indicated that in some previous life I was Khmer. It's strange _ one priest was in the south of Thailand and the other was in Surin, in the northeast.

''In June last year, before we had the presentation at the museum, I had some sweet people come up to my place and teach me Khmer for three months. This was so I could speak in Khmer at the ceremony. They came three times a week, and the speech was very good _ it lasted about five minutes and it was accepted by the minister of culture at the museum and by Sok An, the deputy prime minister.

''When I started speaking they looked kind of quizzical, but then they started nodding and laughing. After I gave the speech I said to Sok An that the two priests had said that I was previously Khmer, and I would like to be again. I told him I would like Khmer citizenship. And he's given it to me.

''After the speech Sok An got up out of his chair and came over, looked at me and shook hands, and said, 'you know, of course you can have Khmer citizenship'.''

Mr Latchford has been visiting Cambodia for many years, and has fond memories of his early journeys there.

''I went to Cambodia the first time in about 1961, to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and it was wonderful then. The Angkor complex then was completely void of tourists. We stayed at the Grand and Royal, but to get around the complex we had to take motorcycles. It was great fun and there were virtually no tourists at all.

''And in 1968 I went back with a group of two couples and we drove from Bangkok to Sisophon and then Siem Reap, and when we got there, there was a mix-up with the hotel and there was nowhere to stay. The Grand was not viable, but there was a little bungalow, or chalet, nearby that was owned by (King) Sihanouk.

''It was suggested that we go and ask if we could stay there as it was vacant, and we drove around there and there was just the guard, and we asked him if we could stay, and he said yes. So we ended up with three bedrooms and a swimming pool. That place has now been bought by the Amanpuri and it now has a new name and is $1,000 a day. The hotel there now is wonderful.''

When asked about the trade in stolen Khmer artefacts, Mr Latchford said the story had been blown out of proportion.

''Not true. As far as I know, going back before my time, some Khmer sculptures have come into Thailand, but that has nothing to do with the Khmer Rouge at all. The trade is not what the media has made it out to be. It is true that some pieces were stolen, but not necessarily from Angkor Wat.

''It is true that some of the temples there had pieces stolen, but it wasn't on a large scale.''

The Khmer Rouge had little time for or appreciation of art, according to Mr Latchford.

''During the Khmer Rouge days, I heard that the guy in charge of the museum just locked the doors and put sandbags in the doorway and left, and I don't believe it was touched. They emptied Phnom Penh in two days, so I guess there was hardly anybody there. ''There were reports that people had vandalised the museum from 1975-80, but when I went there after 1980 _ at the time the Vietnamese were controlling Phnom Penh _ and I went to the museum and everything was as it was. It was fine. I mean, it was a bit dusty and moldy, but nothing had been stolen and nothing had been damaged.''

One of the sprightly 80-something-year-old's biggest concerns these days is the amount of fake artefacts making their way on to markets. And as usual, he has done his research.

''There is a lot of fake stuff getting about. That's true. In fact, I inquired today where the fakes are being made in Cambodia. There are a lot of fakes coming through on a continual basis and I found out this morning that there are two main areas where pieces are being faked, around Siem Reap in umpur (district) Dong Bak and in Sisophon, in an area called umpur Sinopur.

''These are places where pieces are now being made in bronze and particularly stone. Only small amounts of bronzes, but the stone items are coming through in great quantity. You can see them in shops all around Bangkok. The quality of the workmanship is getting better.''

When asked if it's getting harder to pick the fakes, Mr Latchford replied with a smile: ''It depends on who is doing it. But they are getting better and nobody is infallible. To make stone appear to be old, they generally sand-blast it first to give it a weathered look. Then they will heat it _ I've seen this being done. They start a charcoal fire, then put the piece on a wire above the fire to dry it, to take all the moisture out if it.

''Then they immerse it in a bath of liquid, which contains chemicals, acid and colouring. The stone is dry so it will absorb the chemicals and colouring to give it that aged look. What you have to do is to take a very small chip of the stone from the base or somewhere it won't be noticed and test it, and if it contains chemicals and acid and colouring, it's a fake.''

The oldest Khmer piece Mr Latchford has is from the 7th century. ''I found it in New York in a private collection. I had been trying to get it for 20 years. They had it for six years before I got it. It is now in London.''

When asked where the piece originated from, Mr Latchford simply said: ''The ground. When I buy a piece, on principal I thoroughly research it. I have many reference books and I carefully search for any recorded photographs of a piece to see if has been displayed in a museum, a collection or recorded anywhere else. I certainly don't want to buy a piece that has been stolen or anything.

''Most of the pieces I have come across in the past years have been excavated, or dug up. You know, there is a farmer in the field who digs something up, and he probably thinks if I take it to Bangkok or Singapore or a middle man I can get $100 instead of getting $10.''

Although Bangkok has been his home for many years, the veteran of the art world is considering a move to Cambodia.

''You know, if I didn't live in Bangkok I would very much like to live in Cambodia. In fact, I thought of buying a piece of land in Siem Reap. A friend of mine has bought an old Khmer house in Siem Reap and done it up, and has now bought a second one. He visited me last month and I asked him if he'd consider selling me the first one. He said we can talk about it. They're all teak and very open, and beautiful. Phnom Penh is lovely too.''

Mr Latchford's big collection of artefacts is spread around several sites.

''I have some on loan to the Denver Museum and I have some in storage because there's nowhere to put it. I also have some in my London apartment, and I have some here, in Bangkok. But I collect not just Khmer, I collect Tibetan, Nepalese, Indian and Suvichai, which was a maritime state that existed in the 8th century, but there's no one capital of Suvichai as such.'' Suvichai art is found in Java and in Sumatra, Borneo, Cambodia and Thailand.

''They were a maritime state, so they just shipped from port to port. Some of their art is very beautiful.''

His dealings in the art world have led him to some interesting characters.

''I collect, but it's not a business. From time to time a better piece will become available, so I have to upgrade to get a better piece. (Tycoon John D.) Rockefeller did the same thing. I met him and I had a piece once that he'd seen a picture of and when I was in New York once he asked to see me.

''He asked me if I would consider an exchange, and I said 'no'. My piece was better.''

Mr Latchford now spends most of his time in Bangkok, but travels to London about three times every year. And he has a rather unusual interest for an art dealer. ''One of the things I do as a hobby is to help the Thai Bodybuilding Association. I've done that for about 5-6 years now.

''One of the Thais has been world champion three times now. We had the Asian Championships earlier this year in Iran and my chef, who looks after my diet, won the gold medal in his class.

''I was elected as president for Asia earlier this year. I am also the president of the Thai Bodybuilding Association.

''So now I run Southeast Asia and Asia. I'm a Thai citizen, so I am allowed by law to hold these positions.''

However, Mr Latchford is a heavyweight in his own right when it comes to Khmer art, and he's travelled the world to admire it.

''Khmer art is on display in many cities around the world _ in Australia, in Canberra, in England the British museum have maybe three or four pieces. The main collections are in New York, Cleveland, Los Angeles County and Pasadena. There is alot in America. And in France.''

And soon there will be more in the National Museum of Cambodia.

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Builder of Koh ker is King Jayavarman 6th! Here's a portrait of the King on the last section showing the first three pictures!

In the Northern Cambodian province of Preah Vihear, the eponymous temple acquired some international fame with its listing in July 2008 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and because of the border dispute with neighbouring Thailand around the area. However, another highly sacred place in the same province, which deserves some attention: the Koh Ker archaeological group, located 50 miles northeast of the Angkor complex, has long been inaccessible. A week ago, the Phnom Penh branch of the French Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) launched a campaign to excavate this exceptional site.



The particularity of Koh Ker
To this day, only Henri Parmentier carried out an important study of Koh Ker, back at the beginning of last century and as part of research at the EFEO . Since then, a few archaeological soundings have been made by archaeologists from Apsara (the authority in charge of the site management) but no important excavation was carried out, thus leaving the site surrounded by mystery. The site used to be a temporary capital founded by Jayavarman IV – he later settled there in 921AD. That period of time was short but crucial in the history of the Khmer empire, the epicentre of which revolved around the Angkorian era in the present-day Siem Reap province.

A few sculptures from Koh Ker found their way to the Phnom Penh National Museum: here, a giant Garuda is on display at the entrance, welcoming visitors and there, a dancing Shiva is the evidence of a true revolution in Angkorian art.

To Eric Bourdonneau, a lecturer at the EFEO and a professor at the Phnom Penh Faculty of Archaeology, the site is a remarkable group for many reasons, whether it be in terms of architecture, with its mount-temple culminating at 115ft, a record height, or in terms of iconography, as it introduces “narrative scenes via the staging of sculpture in the round [three-dimension sculpture] when up until then, temple iconography was limited to a few divine representations displayed in the narrow frame of the lintels and pediments of the structure.

Having a small artificial hill talk…
In Koh Ker, non-believers might not detect the presence, in a straight line with the main temple (Prasat Thom) – the development of a plan controlled by lines had never been observed previously and conveyed the expansion of the divine here below –, of an artificial hill, named the “Tomb of the White Elephant” as a reference to a Khmer legend. The hill is indeed the centre of Eric Bourdonneau’s research and he intends, with two excavation campaigns, to find out about the secrets of that place: which part did the hill play in the layout of the ritual of Prasat Thom?

The historian and archaeologist, who specialised his research in the study of great sacred sites in Cambodia, seems to have his own theory, even though he wishes to remain cautious on the topic for the time being. What he can tell us at least, is that “the erecting of that hill – which is unique, or nearly unique in the field of archaeology relating to ancient Cambodia – is to be classified among the many innovations which come together with the ‘exploit’ of King Jayavarman IV, i.e. the transformation of the King’s place of activity (the capital and its Royal sanctuary) into a ‘natural’ sacred place, just like Wat Phou”. The latter, the EFEO expert details, is located on the western bank of the Mekong in the far South of Laos and was probably the most important of all sacred places in ancient Cambodia. The successive Kings were always intent on placing their reign under the protection of the divinities present in those places, which stood out due to their sacred worth.

“The Tomb of the White Elephant”: the legend
The tale, as it has been handed down throughout the centuries, is that of a white elephant, then King of all elephants. His daughter, Eric Bourdonneau recounts, “Had great beauty; she was descended from the gods and was taken away by the King of Cambodia who empowered her as first Queen in the Kingdom. The white elephant – well-identified in ethnological literature as both the sign and the source of Royal power – desperately tried to find his daughter but died of exhaustion before succeeding in weakening the compound of the Royal palace built by Jayavarman IV. A mausoleum was constructed nearby in his honour: this mausoleum is the hill located to the West of Prasat Thom”. And today, at the top of that hill, a small structure shelters the image of the white elephant.

Excavations will lead to more digging
The excavation campaign is part of a wider research project about the great sacred places of ancient Cambodia, and was started in 2007 by the Phnom Penh archaeological branch of the EFEO. It comes after more than a decade of efforts to constitute, under the direction of Bruno Bruguier, an inventory of the odd 3,000 sites and a series of archaeological maps covering the whole of Cambodia. “The idea is to study the different ways in which the divine is present”, Eric Bourdonneau explains. “And I call ‘sacred’ places where the divine was not erected by devout followers but appears in a natural way. Man only makes this presence more obvious, but it is already there.”

It would be bad manners to disturb a place that is somewhat “inhabited” and where cult is of high importance. On Tuesday February 17th, a ceremony was organised on the site of Koh Ker, as if to obtain consent to start digging and opening up the ground to divide it into two so-called diagnostic trenches. The ground was cleared of mines prior to the operation. The digging work required some thirty workers supervised by Eric Bourdonneau and an archeologist who is not part of the EFEO, and was carried out in collaboration with two young archeologists from Apsara. The first campaign should last for about 6 weeks and will be followed by a second digging mission during the next dry season, in March/April 2010.

Quoted from a thread of an AsiaFinest member by the sn: Intradaka1.

Original thread posted on 13th Oct 2009.

http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=214864

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Heng Soy's cordial reply to an irate "most likely" Thai reader of KI-Media

Preah Noreay perching on top Garuda (Angkor Wat era bronze)

Khmer are stupid and dumb, be a maid whore in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia to soup cooks. Earn few bucks every day and send it back to their children in the refugee camp to talk shoot on the Internet. My dogs wanna fudge Khmer.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your interesting remarks. I take it that you are probably a fervent Thai nationalist, are you not? Well, first of all, please know that if Khmer are stupid and dumb, we seem to be able to capture your faithful attention on a daily basis, the proofs to the effect are all your posted comments peppered throughout KI-Media. Nevertheless, every time I chance encounter your comments, it makes me feel like watching the movie “Dumb and Dumber” or its sequel “Dumb and Dumber…er” all over again, I wonder why? Do you know why?

Furthermore, there is nothing dishonorable about working as an honestly paid maid and soup cook, or even as a sex worker in Singapore, Thailand or Malaysia. Did you already forget that prostitution is practiced openly in Thailand, even though it is illegal? I am sure that you are fully aware that many of those sex workers in Thailand are Thai men and women as well. In addition, these workers, be they maid, soup cooks or sex workers, earn their keeps honestly with their hard labor, unlike their pimps and bosses – the majority of them in Thailand are Thai citizens – who are profiteering – read stealing - from the hard labor of these honest men and women.

As for sending money back to their children in the refugee camp, I was wondering where have you been all this time? Did you NOT know that these Cambodian refugee camps were closed since 1999, i.e. more than a decade ago? Do wake up because you are left far behind in time, even though I am dismayed to hear that you even know what the Internet is. Furthermore, if you were to look closely in western countries, you will notice that there are many Thai workers who are laboring in Europe, the US, Canada, etc... in order to be able to feed their family at home.

As for your dogs, please do send them over, if they can take the heat, that is. You see, I had been wanting to try this new PAD Thai recipe I read about, the recipe called for an oodle of soft noodle, lots of “kapik” and some meat in it. I was not certain as to what meat to add to it until you offered your dogs. I promise that I will not make a fudge out of them. I do thank you and anxiously wait for your shipment.

Yours sincerely,

Heng Soy, your neighbor to the east

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Reyum still alive

The Cambodian culture can count on the Reyum institute to be on display (Photo: D.R., Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

17 August 2010
By H.S.
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the article in French

Reyum, the art and Khmer culture institute, will not close its door as some newspapers have claimed.

Several rumors are making the round on the potential disappearance of Reyum, claiming that the institute “will not last”, being “the victim of corruption among its managers,” Deum Ampil and Rasmei Kampuchea announced. The claims were rejected by Ly Daravuth, the institute structural director, who is now on business trip in Europe.

The institute solely relies on private funding, but it will try to diversify its funding sources in order to assure its long term cultural programming. Ly Daravuth said: “We are in a restructuring phase, we cannot allow the same programming as we had before.” He also confided that a staff reduction is unavoidable due to funding shortage.

Reyum was founded by Ly Daravuth and Ingrid Muan in 2000. The institute’s mission is to preserve, promote and revive the Cambodian culture, both at the traditional and contemporary levels, through a number of events, such as expositions and publication of documentaries.

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Beyond Angkor Wat

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Photo by: LOS ANGELES TIMES
Overgrown with vegetation, a stone dharmasala, or rest house, lies outside one of the entrances to the Banteay Chhmar temple, one of the largest temples outside Angkor Wat.

Some of Khmer culture’s most exquisite sites lie outside the famed Angkor temple complex.

Banteay Chhmar
IT'S early on a Sunday morning in Cambodia, and I'm standing at a 12th-century moat. Across a causeway, through a tumbled-down gate, lies Banteay Chhmar, one of the largest temples ever built by the ancient Khmer Empire.
Cambodia's great temples of Angkor, 105 kilometres away, have long since been rediscovered after a quarter-century of closure by war. They now draw more than a million foreign visitors a year, not a few of whom regret that so many other people had the same idea.



But go beyond Angkor and you can find places that serve up the old solitude and sense of discovery.

Banteay Chhmar is among the most spectacular of these places. Getting to it entails hours on very bumpy and dusty dirt roads. Staying the night means making do with primitive accommodations: candlelit rooms in local homes, bathwater drawn from that same moat.

Off the tourist trail
I stayed the night, and it turned out to really make the visit. The next morning I rose early, as everyone here does, and took a walk in clean country air. I was seeing not only a temple but a way of life.

Today several thousand people - rice farmers, cattle herders, market vendors - make their homes on all four sides of the temple. The ancient and present day coexist.

Spending time here also means doing a good turn, spreading a bit of wealth in a part of a war-recovering country that has largely missed out on the tourist dollars that Angkor is bringing in.

I WAS SEEING NOT ONLY A TEMPLE BUT A WAY OF LIFE.



Banteay Chhmar was created in the Khmer Empire's last great burst of construction, under the 12th-century Buddhist king Jayavarman VII. His engineers were thinking big even by Khmer standards: To contain a great settlement, they built earthworks and moats that formed a square measuring roughly a kilometre and a half on each side. At its centre, within another square moat system almost a kilometre on each side, they built the temple.

More than a century ago, French archaeologist Etienne Aymonier found the temple to be in a state of "indescribable ruin". It still is. But that's part of what makes the site so enticing. Exploring it means climbing over huge piles of large fallen stones, something to be tackled by only the sure-footed.

The temple is no longer a formal religious site, but Cambodians believe that it, like all those that their forebears left behind, remains a holy site. When rain is needed, locals are reported to walk in a procession around the temple, imploring heaven to help.




One of the best parts of this temple is the many hundreds of feet of bas-reliefs on its outer walls. We had to scramble up more stones to get a good view. Before us was a full sample of life 900 years ago. There were also many scenes of war with Champa, the long-vanished rival state to the east: The temple is in large part a memorial to four generals who lost their lives in that long conflict.

The carving style is similar to that of the Bayon temple reliefs in Angkor. The difference is that there's no need to fight for a view.

Late in the afternoon, we went for a look at what the ancient Khmer could do with water. Just east of the temple, they created a reservoir that measures more than a square kilometre.

The reservoir was now largely dry, but because its floor is low and collects water before the surrounding land does, it has been divided into rice paddies.
Generous hospitality
I passed the night at the house of a Cambodian family, friends of a friend. They couldn't have been more gracious. They gave me a room of my own, bottled water, mosquito coils and a big luxury: a car battery hooked to a fluorescent light. I could have light all night if I wanted it.

I got up at dawn, scoop-bathed in slightly murky water and walked to the moat from which it had been drawn. I took in the early morning sights: the mist, dogs prowling around in first light. I played amateur archaeologist for a bit, noting that an ancient feeder or outflow channel, now dry, was connected to the moat at this corner.

We had breakfast at a stall in the town's market; there are no proper restaurants. It was noodle soup with chicken, and very good.

I first visited Angkor in 1969. Back then, you could be alone in the big temples even there. I once walked through the largest of them, Angkor Wat, encountering hardly a soul. It's good to know that such an experience can still be had. You just have to work a bit harder for it.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

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Recarving an art niche in Cambodian culture

Photo by: Stephanie Mee
Khmer woodcarving is heavily influenced by Indian styles and Hinduisim, as well as Buddhism.

Master wood-carver Chan Sim survived the Khmer Rouge purging of artists and now passes on the tradition of Khmer woodcarving to the next generation

PROFESSOR Chan Sim watches keenly as his students delicately chip away at blocks of wood, using metal tools to shape it into figures, scenes and decorative lintels based on designs and motifs passed down for centuries.

The small gallery and workshop on Street 178 are Chan Sim's, as are the students who are among hundreds who study under the master wood-carver to learn the ancient practice of Khmer woodcarving in the hopes of one day opening their own successful woodworking studios.

The 73 year-old Chan Sim began his journey into the art world in 1950 when he enrolled at the Royal University of Fine Arts. He studied visual arts such as painting, sculpture and woodcarving as well as history and archaeology, and in 1957 was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts. In 1959 he started teaching at the university, specialising in teaching woodcarving until the onset of the civil war in Cambodia.

Rich tradition
"When I was in university, many people from all over the region wanted to learn Khmer arts, including many Thais and Laotians who attended the school," says Chan Sim.

"It is a rich tradition that is steeped in history and symbolism, and is aesthetically stunning. Unfortunately, during the war this all changed."

The Khmer Rouge regime deemed the traditional Khmer arts unnecessary to their socialist agrarian revolution and purged countless monuments, artistic works and educated artists during its 1975-1979 rule of the country.



Chan Sim survived this dark period by hiding his education, telling people he was a simple labourer carving doorways for houses. When senior Khmer Rouge officials brought him stencils and blueprints for woodcarvings with foreign lettering he pretended not to be able to read the characters despite his fluency in French and slight knowledge of English. "Before the war there were 40 master wood-carvers in Cambodia," he says. "Only four of us survived."
After the liberation of Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge, Chan Sim immediately began teaching woodcarving again, and in 1980 opened up his shop, Art of Khmer Angkor, that still stands today. He has made it his life's goal to teach the rich history and specialised techniques of traditional Khmer woodcarving.

Heavy Hindu influence
He explains, "Khmer woodworking can be traced back as far as the 6th century AD, and was heavily influenced by Indian styles and designs and images from the Hindu religious pantheon, and later Buddhism.

"During the Angkor period, skilled artists were called upon by the kings to contribute their work to the vast building plans at Angkor, and it was then that the four main design types of Cambodia were consolidated."

Khmer woodworking design motifs have typically used four main styles since the Angkor period: wind, water, land and air. Each style has unique defining aspects, and symbolises elements of the human experience.

The wind style uses graceful curlicues and motifs of clouds to represent life and breath. The water style uses images of plants, such as lotus flowers, lily pads and fish to symbolise the life-giving force of water. The land style symbolises the body and makes use of vines, flowers, tree stalks and plant stems while the fire style employs intricate flame designs and is mainly used in temples, funerals and cremation ceremonies as it represents war and death.

"Khmer style is quite different from Thai or Laotian styles," says Chan Sim. "For example, the Thai like to use the fire style in many of their wooden artworks.

"Everywhere you go in Thailand you see these designs, but for Cambodians, this style symbolizes very negative aspects, so we use it very carefully."

Chen Sim explains that Khmer woodcarving designs rely heavily on spirituality, and many are religious in nature. "The most powerful images are statues that are highly realistic, and these must be treated with respect as spirits are often fooled into thinking they are real, and will come to inhabit the object," he said.



Powerful symbolism
"To be a proper woodcarver you must be aware of the power of symbols, the styles and the designs as well as the history behind the art."

The master woodcarver has also compiled two comprehensive books titled Book for Learning to Draw and Sculpt by Yourself, parts I and II, both of which contain blueprints and grids of drawing scales for common Khmer design motifs and have been endorsed by the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. In 2000, the Ministry awarded him a certificate designating him a Master of Khmer Fine Arts.

As for Chen Sim's students, many study for years under his tutelage either at Norton University or the Royal University of Fine Arts, or at his workshop at Arts of Khmer Angkor.

Nationwide input
"My students come from all over Cambodia, from every province," he said. "They are keen to learn woodcarving and sculpture in order to preserve and carry on this aspect of Khmer culture, and because it can be very lucrative. Many return to their home provinces after they have mastered the art and set up their own shops, distributing their works to shops throughout Cambodia."

Wooden statues at shops along Street 178 range in value, from US $3.00 for a small wooden apsara at Arts of Angkor up to US $20,000 for a life-size wooden elephant at nearby Kosal Gallery. Prices vary depending on size, quality of wood and the skills of the carver.

As Chen Sim walked around the workshop giving tips to the diligent students, he stopped at one young carver working on a wooden reproduction of the famous statue of Jayavarman VII and said: "Very nice; almost perfect!"

The student swelled with pride and continued his work with extra vigour, smiling broadly as he did so.

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