'Celebrating Cambodia': Five-artist exhibit depicts history, landscape of Southeast Asian country

By Rosemary Ford ,
Daily News of Newburyport

There's no special date or anniversary, no timely topic or other reason to host an exhibit about Cambodia at the moment.

The Southeast Asian country is so rich with artistic tradition and beauty, however, that it's always prime time for such an exhibit, says the organizer of "Celebrating Cambodia" at Brooks School.

"The dance, the pottery, the painting, it's very impressive," Marie Costello, head of the Robert Lehman Art Center at the North Andover school, said.

"Celebrating Cambodia," a show of 50 pieces, includes work by five artists with roots in the Southeast Asian country, including two Cambodians living here, two living in Cambodia, and one non-Cambodian who visits the country frequently.

Artwork in the show ranges from paintings to pottery to modern photographs of Cambodia. The exhibit depicts events from Cambodian history, as well as everyday pastoral life.

While Costello didn't have a peg for the show, she did have her reasons for bringing it here.

This area boasts a significant Cambodian immigrant community, many of whom arrived after the Khmer Rouge (which literally means Red Khmer, used to describe a succession of Communist parties) took over the country from 1975 to 1979. Nearly 2 million Cambodians died during this violent period, which aimed its assault at intellectuals, artists and urban dwellers.

In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge imposed a radical form of communism in which the whole population had to work on collective farms or forced labor projects.

"There was an attempt to destroy the culture during the Khmer Rouge," she said. "The refugees are here because of that."

"Celebrating Cambodia" is especially significant, Costello said, in that it demonstrates how Cambodians here and overseas are working to preserve the country's heritage.

She invited two painters from Cambodia to contribute their work - watercolorist Duong Saree and oil painter Chhim Sothy.

Two of the remaining three artists are Cambodian immigrants living in Lowell: Chantha Khem is a watercolor painter who shows history through art; and Yary Livan, a ceramicist and painter, incorporates influences from ancient sites and traditional Cambodian imagery, relief carving and designs into artwork.

Costello rounded out the show with Eleanor Briggs of West Newbury, an environmentalist who has been shooting images of Cambodia for the last decade.

Livan submitted more than a dozen pieces to the show, ranging from flower pots to faces of Cambodian heroes. Through his wife, Nary, the 54-year-old who immigrated here in 2001 said he was very excited about the opportunity to show at Brooks.

"It is rare for Cambodians to have the opportunity to show or exhibit like this," he said.

Livan, who started studying pottery making in 1971, said it is rare to see so many styles of Cambodian art together in one exhibit.

"We're trying to give an opportunity for the public to see some Cambodian art and a lot of it is produced locally in Lowell," Costello said. "I don't think people have a chance to see it that often."