House - Spirit series 2020

The House – Spirit 2020 watercolour series was produced in collaboration with Cambodian artist Vuth Lyno for his ongoing research and installation House – Spirit 2018. House – Spirit 2018 by Vuth Lyno was exhibited at the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial (APT9) at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art and is now part of the permanent collection. The eight watercolours reference their real objects from the famous White Building in Phnom Penh. The building was a pioneering municipal style public housing project built in the 1960s during Cambodia's post-independence period. The White Building was a significant landmark and community to Cambodia. The building has a complex history that captures the generational trauma of the Khmer Rouge. Among the residential community was the grass-roots space SA SA BASSAC, which later became SA SA Arts Projects, an organisation of young artists fundamental to the Cambodian contemporary arts scene. Vuth Lyno and Than Sok remain leading figures within the narrative of these organisations. The White Building was knocked down in 2017 to make way for new development, as the government decided that the structure was no longer safe. As people moved out, many had no choice but to leave their Preah Phums (spirit houses) there. The spirit houses accumulated a dense history and rich stories of the families and the neighbourhood. Vuth Lyno and Than Sok knew the community's anxieties and desires, and witnessed another rendition of social displacement at the hands of the political disruption. After seven years of continuous work in the vibrant community, the artists felt the need to document its collective memory in a form that would endure beyond its physical disappearance. 

House – Spirit 2020 is an archive or a bank of knowledge of those that lived in the White Building. Each watercolour refers to the spirits of the building, captured through the depiction of a tangible object but documenting a greater collective memory that will last beyond its physical disappearance.