From 4 November to 3 December 2010, the pioneering Arts Lounge at Siem Reap’s renowned Hôtel de la Paix will host a photography exhibition as part of the Angkor Photo Festival. The exhibition will feature work from the acclaimed Paolo Patrizi and will see 17-year-old CHAN Sokdam’s second solo exhibition as an upcoming photographer. The Arts lounge offers an ever-changing exhibition space; providing guests and visitors with the opportunity to contemplate and enjoy the works in an ambient and thought provoking setting, and this exhibition highlights Hotel de la Paix’s commitment to celebrating and nurturing the burgeoning Cambodian art scene.
The anticipated Angkor Photo Festival will bring together influential photographers from around the world, showcasing print exhibitions and outdoor projections, and aims to highlight emerging talents from South East Asia. The festival sets itself apart due to its strong humanitarian objectives, including free workshops, tutored by renowned artists for emerging Asian photographers and photo workshops at Anjali House, an NGO which provides refuge, care and education for under privileged children in the city.
A self-taught documentary photographer, Paolo Patrizi will be showcasing a series of photographs entitled ‘European Starlings’. Paolo began his career in London, working on freelance assignments for British magazines and design groups, until he started developing projects of his own. Paolo’s recent stories have explored the contradictions between traditions and modernity and cultural disconnections produced from rapid economic growth. Patrizi has exhibited internationally and his work, which has won notable awards, is featured in leading publications. ‘European Starlings’ illustrates thousands of birds in the city of Rome forming together in the sky to create a beautiful abstracted silhouette called a ‘murmuration’. The work highlights the behavioral aspects of humans in modern times by looking at the influential aspects of crowd psychology, human and animal cognitive behavioral abilities.
Sokdam, who arrived at the Anjali House several years ago from an extremely deprived background, will present his second solo exhibition titled ‘Life and Disability’. Sokdam’s talent in photography was discovered in November 2009, during the Anjali Photo Workshop. Contrasting the abstract genre, Sokdam’s story concentrates on bringing realism into the photo by capturing the subject’s life. The images will hang from the large tree at the heart of the hotel, in the spectacular Fire Garden. The exhibition is inspired from his splintered childhood and Sokdam addresses everyday difficulties faced by adults and children living in Cambodia, conveying an exceptionally powerful and compelling message that strikes all emotive senses.
