"Part of Life" 2023

People can’t see what the future will bring, but one of the most in important things in life is to learn accept what life brings to us and impove ourselves though it. Life is the part of nature. When we die, our bodies return to the nature, becoming part of the natural cycle again. This is the law of nature. We receive from nature during our lives and we give back to nature.

It has its genesis in Values, a 2022 art project conducted with a group of Cambodian-indigenous Mondulkiri in the northeastern corridor of Cambodia, in which I pondered upon the conditions of the indigenous people who live here. Part of Life is a series dedicated to the life, land, spirit, and identity of people who live there. During my research for Values, I saw the tree that had been cut in half. An the old woman who came from the forest told me when a tree is cut in half, it was hard to start new growth for new life again. I was deeply inspired by what she told me and how people connect to the tree and land. I began to see how the values of the trees can speak to us silently, through feelings and experiences. The landscape around us carries the traces of the daily lives of Indigenous people who have lived there for generations. Their relationship with the land continues from one generation to the next. To me, this is the spirit of life carried within the soul of the land.

My photographs combine mixed-media elements with photographs, including cutting paper, painting and silk thread. Through the silk stitching, I want to express the lines of sewing as a way for the spirit to carry the memories of people who have lived there for a long time and until now. The stitched lines represent what we carry with us: connections that can remain with us until the end of our lives.