Monirith Chhea
Encyclopedia
Monirith Chhea is a Cambodia
n-American
artist
from Phnom Penh
.
As a child of starvation, who watched overwork, torture, disease, and execution during the Khmer Rouge
and learned by the age ten how to survive on his own, separated from his family in a labor camp and later in a refugee camp in Thailand. Eventually he came to live in California
whilst his family immigrated to Canada
.
Which of his art often represents the atrocities of the revolution and war which he witnessed and survived in Cambodia during my childhood and adolescence. His paintings and drawings symbolize the negative aspects starvation
, sickness
, and death
.
Chhea has often utilized artwork as an outlet to be able to deal with the difficult and painful memories of my childhood and adolescence. In one of his early charcoal
drawings, completed in 1988, he drew a self portrait with a menacing faceless Khmer Rouge soldier entitled Childhood, where he is sitting in a bleak and cold place, terrified of his fate. The shadow which the body of the soldier casts forms a demon-like image. This self-portrait is very symbolic of the Khmer Rouge's power and control.
In the largest of his oil paintings, Seven Women in the Field, completed in 1990, he painted a group of seven Cambodian women dressed in Khmer Rouge uniforms including black clothes with the red cotton
cloth called "Krama" on their heads. They stand with their backs turned away from the viewer, holding hoes in their hands. The number seven represents the seven days of the week they have to work from sunrise to sundown. The large and bright sky looms in the background. The long red shadows behind the women represent their difficult struggle to endure the harsh working conditions which life has dealt them. In the background sit homes once occupied but now deserted and lifeless.
In one of his larger oil paintings titled Boys in the Field, completed in 1991, he depicts young emaciated boys treated like slaves in the labor camp. This painting represents the male children who were part of the group of Cambodian people from the cities who were labelled "New People" and were subjected to very cruel working conditions and starvation. The young boys in the painting carry heavy bags of rice which force their thin bodies to twist in agony. While I the brutality of the times s illustrated in the foreground, in the background there is evidence of hope with the immense blue sky and the large palm trees in the distance.
In 1993 he completed the small oil painting titled Re-Education, created with an image of skulls representing the tortured and murdered Cambodian people. As represent the "Killing Fields" all around Cambodia, using bright colors such as red and orange to surround the skulls intended to be symbolic of the blood which was shed during the massacares of the Khmer Rouge.
However his work occasionally covers happier subject matter. His painting entitled Peasants Gathering Rice, was completed in 1990 and relays his early childhood memories of happier times when he would travel with his father to the Cambodian countryside to visit the farm they once owned with the peasants working in the rice fields. It is an oil painting, using bold colors and brushstrokes of thick paint called impasto, to create a textural rhythm in order to introduce a more intense feeling in the artwork. A common theme running through his work are groups of people working in the fields or individuals expressing a variety of emotions. This reflects the "New People" during the Khmer Rouge regime. He often uses red, yellow and orange colors in his work to remember the hot, dry summers spent in the labor camp.
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
n-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
from Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
.
As a child of starvation, who watched overwork, torture, disease, and execution during the Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
and learned by the age ten how to survive on his own, separated from his family in a labor camp and later in a refugee camp in Thailand. Eventually he came to live in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
whilst his family immigrated to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Which of his art often represents the atrocities of the revolution and war which he witnessed and survived in Cambodia during my childhood and adolescence. His paintings and drawings symbolize the negative aspects starvation
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
, sickness
Sickness
Sickness may refer to:* Illness* Disease* Nausea* Sickness behaviorIn popular culture:* The Sickness, an album by Disturbed* The Sickness , a book in the Animorphs series...
, and death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
.
Chhea has often utilized artwork as an outlet to be able to deal with the difficult and painful memories of my childhood and adolescence. In one of his early charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
drawings, completed in 1988, he drew a self portrait with a menacing faceless Khmer Rouge soldier entitled Childhood, where he is sitting in a bleak and cold place, terrified of his fate. The shadow which the body of the soldier casts forms a demon-like image. This self-portrait is very symbolic of the Khmer Rouge's power and control.
In the largest of his oil paintings, Seven Women in the Field, completed in 1990, he painted a group of seven Cambodian women dressed in Khmer Rouge uniforms including black clothes with the red cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
cloth called "Krama" on their heads. They stand with their backs turned away from the viewer, holding hoes in their hands. The number seven represents the seven days of the week they have to work from sunrise to sundown. The large and bright sky looms in the background. The long red shadows behind the women represent their difficult struggle to endure the harsh working conditions which life has dealt them. In the background sit homes once occupied but now deserted and lifeless.
In one of his larger oil paintings titled Boys in the Field, completed in 1991, he depicts young emaciated boys treated like slaves in the labor camp. This painting represents the male children who were part of the group of Cambodian people from the cities who were labelled "New People" and were subjected to very cruel working conditions and starvation. The young boys in the painting carry heavy bags of rice which force their thin bodies to twist in agony. While I the brutality of the times s illustrated in the foreground, in the background there is evidence of hope with the immense blue sky and the large palm trees in the distance.
In 1993 he completed the small oil painting titled Re-Education, created with an image of skulls representing the tortured and murdered Cambodian people. As represent the "Killing Fields" all around Cambodia, using bright colors such as red and orange to surround the skulls intended to be symbolic of the blood which was shed during the massacares of the Khmer Rouge.
However his work occasionally covers happier subject matter. His painting entitled Peasants Gathering Rice, was completed in 1990 and relays his early childhood memories of happier times when he would travel with his father to the Cambodian countryside to visit the farm they once owned with the peasants working in the rice fields. It is an oil painting, using bold colors and brushstrokes of thick paint called impasto, to create a textural rhythm in order to introduce a more intense feeling in the artwork. A common theme running through his work are groups of people working in the fields or individuals expressing a variety of emotions. This reflects the "New People" during the Khmer Rouge regime. He often uses red, yellow and orange colors in his work to remember the hot, dry summers spent in the labor camp.