Rubber Man
2014 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
8:31 minutes
Khvay Samnang
The video Rubber Man continues exploring issues related to land use, also noticeable in his Untitled series (2011). More specifically, Rubber Man addresses the French colonial legacy of land use for the exploitation of rubber –today exploited by multiple forces such as individuals, governments, multinationals and international banks– and its effects on Cambodia’s indigenous forests and culture today. The video takes place in Ratanakiri, an area in northeastern Cambodia increasingly known in local and international news for land grabs and protests, and where the artist frequently traveled to over two years. In the video, the artist appears as wandering around the crops as if lost, punctually pouring fresh liquid rubber over his body, and wondering if the ancestor spirits and indigenous communities who heavily rely on each other to subsist will continue to live.
Khvay Samnang’s work critically examines the interlocking nature of ritual and politics, the humanitarian and ecological impacts of globalization, colonialism and migration, and the cultural-material histories of exchange that have shaped the Southeast Asia region. Working in performance, film and video, photography, sculpture and installation, his research-based practice draws heavily upon traditional cultural rites, dance choreography, spiritual iconography, and methods of critical remapping. Frequently collaborating with local communities or other artists, Khvay is a founding member of Stiev Selapak, an art collective dedicated to reappraising and commemorating Cambodian history and resuscitating visual practices disrupted by civil war and the Khmer Rouge regime, and has exhibited a diverse body of work that deals explicitly with issues of environmental degradation, extraction of natural resources, and the suppression of the rights of Indigenous communities. Hearsay, intuition, direct exchanges with people, and a belief in dreams and premonition often prompt Khvay Samnang who then follows stories he believes require intervention. Approaching what he considers to be universal themes through the Cambodian context, his works deal with unknown yet important events or current contentious social issues for his surrounding community. In his works spanning photography, video, sculpture and performance, the artist frequently uses simple and playful gestures as visual language to shade new lights onto of historical and cultural events and a means for resisting to the polarizing language of dominant media and legal powers covering the issues.
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