A Change of Guard

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Thursday 29 December 2011

Art in Cambodia. Connect Asia's Liam Cochrane reports

ABC Radio
Updated December 29, 2011

When you think of the Asian nation of Cambodia, you might think of ancient temples, rice paddies, the Khmer Rouge and the years of civil war in the Eighties and Nineties.

There are still plenty of tales of hardship and povertyin Cambodia, but there's also a booming tourism industry and a young population keen to embrace the modern world.

The influences of America and Korea might be prominent in popular culture but Cambodia has a small but growing contemporary arts movement of its own.

Liam Cochrane reports.

SFX - music
LIAM COCHRANE:
1975 was Year Zero for Cambodia. The ultra-Communist Khmer Rouge wanted to turn the country into a peasant utopia, where everyone but the top leaders planted rice and constructed huge reservoirs. Intellectuals became the enemy. Any art that didn't serve the party was outlawed and in just three brutal years, the nation's artists were all but wiped out. Years of war and struggle followed and art was far from a priority. But in recent years, a contemporary arts scene has been growing in Cambodia. One of those who have nurtured the budding visual arts movement is Dana Langlois, owner of Java Arts Cafe. I catch her at the cafe as she's heading out to see a young Cambodian artist.

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