CAMBODIAN CULTURAL MUSEUM
Ongoing Exhibit in the Community Portrait Gallery at Wing Luke Museum
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
Cambodian Cultural Museum
Ongoing
Community Portrait Gallery
This exhibit honors the rich, enduring legacy of the Cambodian people and features artworks about diaspora stories by Khmer American artists Darozyl Touch, Sophia Som and Bunthay Cheam. The contemporary works were featured in a past WLM program, Sok Sabbay Tham Phaluv from October 2023.
MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Sok Sabbay Tham Phaluv: សុខសប្បា យ តាមផ្លូវ
“May you be well and happy on your journey”
This Khmer prayer or well wish is often shared between people upon departing and this supplication is bittersweet as many have been forced to journey away from their homeland and build a new life elsewhere, becoming members of the diaspora. So, what then, does it mean to be a member of the Khmer diaspora? What histories unite us? Divide us? What is home, and where do we find home? What is in our collective consciousness to heal in this lifetime?
Bunthay Cheam, Sophia Som, and Darozyl Touch are Khmer Seattle-based artists who explore these questions and more through their own original curation of interviews, archives, photographs, and videos to tell uniquely different stories about the Khmer diaspora – filled with vulnerability, curiosity, and hope for our collective futures.
EXHIBITION EVENTS
MUSIC AS ACTIVISM: COMMUNITY GATHERING FOR THE SHOW CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND
This event is an opportunity for community members who have seen or plan to see the show, to come together with selected cast members and discuss the power the production has had far and wide.
CHECK OUT OUR FULL EVENTS CALENDAR
Plan your year with us and check out more exciting community events, parties, programs, and more!
BEYOND THE EXHIBITION: EXPLORE THE SOK SABY PHALUV COLLECTION
The Sok Saby Tham Phaluv collection includes journeys and reflections by Khmer Seattle based artists who, through their own original curation of interviews, archives, photographs, and videos, tell uniquely different stories about the Khmer diaspora.
EXPLORE THE COLLECTIONS DATABASE
The systematic murder of two million Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge regime, and the exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees who survived its atrocities, left a gaping hole in Cambodian society. As refugees have reinvented themselves outside of Cambodia, they have contributed to their adopted homes while also bringing skills and knowledge back to their motherland. Nam Keo and his wife Roeun Mol escaped to a camp in Thailand where they lived for three years. They spent nine months in a resettlement camp in the Philippines before coming to Seattle in 1984.
Noun Keo, Nem Keo and their parents Roeun Mol and Nam Keo in a Philippine resettlement camp in 1980. 2003.200.020
For more information on collections materials, please visit our Wing Luke Museum Database