Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Handicap International Cambodia



These days I am on assignment at the Handicap International Rehabilitation Center in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Apart from physiotherapy and the production and
repair of equipment, the centers offer patients a social follow-up. Amongst these patients, there is obviously a large number of mines victims, but the centers welcome a wide diversity of people and types of disabilities, and even offer specific services to children suffering from cerebral palsy and babies suffering from clubfoot.

Today still, Cambodia remains amongst the countries more severely affected by the problem of mines and unexploded ordnance, both for the number of victims and in terms of contaminated surface. Since 1979, more than 60,000 people have either died or been wounded by these weapons, leading to 19,000 deaths and causing around 9,000 amputations.

Today, there are on average four deaths and 75 people wounded every day on Cambodian roads. 46% of wounds recorded in the country are caused by road accidents, making it the first cause of disabilities with young people under 17. This alarming data had to result in a reaction.

Source: Handicap International Cambodia


The long term lack of vaccination during and after the war and the consequences of Agent Orange would appear to be responsible for congenital disorders in Cambodia.

Agent Orange was the code name for the US military's herbicide, developed to destroy the foliage that offered a natural camouflage and protective canopy for communist troops fighting the US during the war in Vietnam.Cambodia and Laos were also targets of Agent Orange, though to a much lesser extent than Vietnam. As a result, far less is known about the environmental and human costs of defoliant use in both these countries.

Click here to see more images of the "HOPE" documentary series


Saturday, May 8, 2010

Art exhibition populates pagoda



The latest article about my exhibition was published in the Phnom Penh Post. I just copy the original article here because couple of weeks later there's no access to read the original version free of charge. Anyway at the end of this article just try to click on the link. May be you are lucky. The photo I attached was taken by Eric de Vries.

Art exhibition populates pagoda

Among the shrines and ceremonial ornaments strewn throughout the meditation room of Siem Reap’s Kesseraram Pagoda, a sight that would otherwise be peculiar to behold, given the venue, adorns its walls.

With the room serving a secondary function as an art gallery of sorts until May 31, the pagoda is hosting Janos Kis’ and Geoff Croll’s joint photography exhibition, Sacred … and Nuns Life.

The title of the project is something of a practical approach to explaining the subject matter depicted in the photos. The elegance and sense of purity Croll has captured in his work on the daily life of Buddhist nuns in Myanmar is juxtaposed with the rawer feel of Kis’ work with monks, many of whom are former soldiers, sporting skin etched with tattoos of sacred talismans and symbols.

Kis’ Sacred series displays visceral, close-up, black-and-white and colour shots of body parts decorated with the tattoos. On the exhibition’s opening day, resident monks explained to attendees the meaning of the ink in the photos.

The protective tattoos consist of two elements: geometric pattern (yantra) and symbols (mantras).

Each tattoo is specific to the person, as it is supposed to reflect the personality of the wearer. Likewise, different tattoos provide different protection. One gives immunity from projectiles, like arrows or bullets, another provides invisibility once a weapon has been lost, and one even provides protection from being crushed by an elephant.

“I’ve never seen similar tattoos in my life,” says Kis, whose interest in the protective inking was sparked during an earlier visit to Kesseraram Pagoda, where he saw the tattoos peeking through the robes of several monks.

In contrast, Croll’s series, Nuns Life, has a more gentle quality, yet is no less compelling. Croll’s work took him on a journey through eight different locations in Myanmar where he spent a lot of time with nuns, allowing them to get comfortable and open up to the camera.

The exhibition was first shown in January at Siem Reap’s 4 Faces Gallery. But Kis and Croll felt that, given the subject matter, there should be some involvement from the Buddhist community of Siem Reap. After Kis discussed this with the head monks of Kesseraram Pagoda, they came to him with the decision to host a showing.

Most of the proceeds will be donated to the monastery and according to Kis, “Our goal was to bring the project to a unique venue and make it a humanitarian effort to benefit the pagoda and help its disabled residents.” by Bejan Siavoshy
click here