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Asymmetry 1

The Simultaneous, 2022
Digital C-Prints, Ilford Semigloss
40 x 60 cm
50 x 75 cm
Edition of 7 + 2AP

Due to the increasing consumerism of modern property, old buildings are being demolished one by one to make ways for new buildings. Construction and destruction in the city are our daily experiences. Over the past 40 years, the excessive supply of high rise that spread throughout Phnom Penh has brought irreversible changes and reinvented a new urban identity. The identity, legacies, and historical context of those buildings including the French colonial buildings and the resulting movement of New Khmer Architecture in the 1960s are slowly being forgotten. This is an era of erasing memories of the city, and therefore erasing the memories of the people as well. As a young architect who lives through the accelerated urban development and disturbance, I stand and hold up mirrors reflecting the contrast of the old buildings versus the new ones. My body become a faceless figure like many people and the city itself who lose their identity because of this fast-growing urban change. I contemplate the balance and tension between development and preservation. In doing so, I intended to trigger our thoughts on our urban identity and our responsibilities toward these structures that bear so much cultural and historical value. I hope to deliver “facts” through surreal experiences, sometimes nostalgic, critical, and poetical.

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