01-30-2008, CCTV.com
As people in many parts of the world get ready to celebrate elsewhere it's time for remembrance.
A group of artists in Cambodia create a "Khmer Rouge exhibition." They are showing the world, through Art, the tragedy that took place in their homeland under Pol Pot's brutal rule nearly three decades ago.
Under the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot nearly three decades ago, an estimated 17,000 to 20,000 Cambodians were crammed into the notorious Tuol Sleng prison. Previously the building had served as a high school.
Van Nath was a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge. Today an exhibition at Phnom Penh's Meta House gallery allows him to portray his memories on canvas and tell his story to the world.
Trained as an artist during the Khmer Rouge regime,Nath was forced to work in the 1970s painting pictures of Pol Pot.
Van Nath, artist & Survivor from tuol sleng , said, "If I compare the prison where I was to Nuon Chea prison, it is very different. The prison at the Khmer Rouge court was very good. It had televisions, electricity, mattresses and enough food to eat. At the prison where I was, I was in handcuffs 24 hours a day with no food and no medicine. Now even with today's good prisons, prisoners can still ask to be released on bail.
They complain that they can not stay there. But what about me and the nearly 20,000 people imprisoned at Tuol Sleng?"
The gallery's owner says the exhibition is aimed at helping the country to speak openly about its past.Nicolas Mesterharm, owner meta house, said, "The young generation we work with knows a little bit. So we try to educate them. We try to bring young and older artists together. Through art, we try to address genocide and the Khmer Rouge atrocities in a society that has not learnt to speak openly about what happened 25 years ago."
The exhibition comes at a time when a joint court established by the Cambodian government and the United Nations is bringing to trial senior members of the Khmer Rouge for crimes against humanity, including genocide.
As people in many parts of the world get ready to celebrate elsewhere it's time for remembrance.
A group of artists in Cambodia create a "Khmer Rouge exhibition." They are showing the world, through Art, the tragedy that took place in their homeland under Pol Pot's brutal rule nearly three decades ago.
Under the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot nearly three decades ago, an estimated 17,000 to 20,000 Cambodians were crammed into the notorious Tuol Sleng prison. Previously the building had served as a high school.
Van Nath was a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge. Today an exhibition at Phnom Penh's Meta House gallery allows him to portray his memories on canvas and tell his story to the world.
Trained as an artist during the Khmer Rouge regime,Nath was forced to work in the 1970s painting pictures of Pol Pot.
Van Nath, artist & Survivor from tuol sleng , said, "If I compare the prison where I was to Nuon Chea prison, it is very different. The prison at the Khmer Rouge court was very good. It had televisions, electricity, mattresses and enough food to eat. At the prison where I was, I was in handcuffs 24 hours a day with no food and no medicine. Now even with today's good prisons, prisoners can still ask to be released on bail.
They complain that they can not stay there. But what about me and the nearly 20,000 people imprisoned at Tuol Sleng?"
The gallery's owner says the exhibition is aimed at helping the country to speak openly about its past.Nicolas Mesterharm, owner meta house, said, "The young generation we work with knows a little bit. So we try to educate them. We try to bring young and older artists together. Through art, we try to address genocide and the Khmer Rouge atrocities in a society that has not learnt to speak openly about what happened 25 years ago."
The exhibition comes at a time when a joint court established by the Cambodian government and the United Nations is bringing to trial senior members of the Khmer Rouge for crimes against humanity, including genocide.
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