TERRE NOIRE, 2024, CAMBODIA
Land art, photography series, video, installation
I visited the unknown kingdom of Cambodia for the first time in 2019, a place unlike any other I've been to, a land still bearing the scars from the Khmer Rouge bloodshed, it is now dangerous, mysterious and free.
Among it's many mind-boggling citie, one of them, Sihanoukville, caught my attention.
Before the epidemic, the city was rapidly filling up with casinos and luxury hotels, and a lot of land acquisition and urbanisation projects attracted a lot of Chinese people to come here for the 'gold rush' attractivity of the city.
When the epidemic hit, things took a less pleasant turn, as the city was almost emptied, leaving over a thousand unfinished buildings behind in a deserted town.
I travelled to Sihanouk in 2022 and 2024 to do my research and lived there for a while. I was fascinated by the many buildings left over from the French colonial period, the officer's hotel in Bogor Hill, the military factory, the Christian church on the Buddhist holy mountain whose walls were overwritten in Khmer, wrapped in uncontrolled weeds and dark moss.
Time wasn't given enough rest as new waves of expatriates surged into the land. It was as if the colonial era had never receded.
These strong and swift imprints are rapidly making their mark on the land.I bought a piece of land here for three dollars a square foot, and the flames started on the farm, then what I should serve on the table?
Among it's many mind-boggling citie, one of them, Sihanoukville, caught my attention.
Before the epidemic, the city was rapidly filling up with casinos and luxury hotels, and a lot of land acquisition and urbanisation projects attracted a lot of Chinese people to come here for the 'gold rush' attractivity of the city.
When the epidemic hit, things took a less pleasant turn, as the city was almost emptied, leaving over a thousand unfinished buildings behind in a deserted town.
I travelled to Sihanouk in 2022 and 2024 to do my research and lived there for a while. I was fascinated by the many buildings left over from the French colonial period, the officer's hotel in Bogor Hill, the military factory, the Christian church on the Buddhist holy mountain whose walls were overwritten in Khmer, wrapped in uncontrolled weeds and dark moss.
Time wasn't given enough rest as new waves of expatriates surged into the land. It was as if the colonial era had never receded.
These strong and swift imprints are rapidly making their mark on the land.I bought a piece of land here for three dollars a square foot, and the flames started on the farm, then what I should serve on the table?
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