DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES (1901-2006)
Christophe Loviny has edited the remarkable history of Cambodia into a six-part presentation. He opens with historical images of the era of the asparas. These ‘celestial dancers’ took part in ceremonies and were seen as messengers from the gods. Then come images of what Loviny calls ‘the lazy colonization’, by the French, which appeared to be a blessing for the preservation of culture. The third section is dominated by the figure of Norodom Sihanouk, a king. The fourth series focuses on S-21, the infamous Khmer Rouge extermination camp where prisoners were photographed before their execution. The photographs largely come from the album of a Khmer officer who worked in S-21. Loviny combined all these historical images with his photographs of the careful return of the asparas, a symbol for the renaissance that Cambodia is experiencing today. The hexad ends with photographs that were made by street children of Angkor whose parents have been maimed by landmines.
