Jorng Jam II
Jorng Jam is a collaborative project and exhibition series featuring the work of four young Cambodian artists: film-maker Neang Kavich, sculptor Kong Vollak, photographers Kim Hak and Neak Sophal. The project is curated and produced by Pip Kelly. Having first exhibited the memories and photographs of people living in Phnom Penh (Our City Festival, 2014), the collaborative visited Logan, Queensland to undergo an intensive six week process involving oral history interviewing and the production of new work. The resulting exhibition, Jorng Jam II, aims to connect Cambodian and Australian communities in order to remember, reclaim and reinterpret historical knowledge and photographs from before, during and after the Khmer Rouge era.
Cambodian people have moved from their homes, by will or by force, since 1973 due to the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK – Khmer Rouge). When they were overthrown in 1979, millions of people started searching for their families and homes. Some escaped across the border to Thai refugee camps in search for a new home.
Jorng Jam II represents memories from the Cambodian community who have been living in Logan since the 1980s. The exhibition acknowledges their survival and strength during the regime, and their bravery searching for a new home while travelling to and living inside refugee camps. The project also reveals stories from the past with the hope that they will not be repeated, to encourage other communities to record their own histories, and to use contemporary art practices as a way of educating, reclaiming and connecting.
In addition to the exhibitions at Logan Art Gallery 2015, National Museum of Cambodia 2016, International Association of Genocide Scholars Conference, Phnom Penh 2019 - the project has an extensive online exhibition at www.jorngjam.com
7 oral histories are available in both Khmer and English, summaries of the oral histories in English and digitised copies of each participant’s rare historical photographs. The website also showcases the artworks produced and gives a brief overview of the events that took place in Cambodian between the 1960s and present day.
