Artworks in Battambang

There are times when you travel when kismet steps in and you get the most incredible experience, unsought, uplifting, unforgettable and totally life affeciting. This happened to Jacqui and I in Battembang. It started with a simple meeting of minds and ended with us both in raptures that we are still talking about 2 days later. On our third day in town we decided that we wanted to find a cafe that served coffee and cakes. A search of the books and the maps revealed the Cocoart cafe. We found it after a little walk, a very pleasant little establishment run by young people with some incredible paintings on the wall. They were all very good, all very different and some quite disturbing, evocative and full of pain. We met this Belgian man there (Igor) who had just bought a painting. It was a self portrait of the artist but in a very confronting way. He had painted it with the canvass (about 2m X 1.5m)  lying flat on the floor. He had used unconventional methods to create the image, flinging the paint onto the surface. Then he had stood it up and "let it bleed". The effect was dramatic. Anyway we got talking to Igor and the artist who invited us to the grand opening of a new gallery in town the next night at 6pm. That was the day we had planned to hire a bike and go 120Km north to a Khmer temple at Bantey Chammar. We promised that we would be back by 6pm for the opening.

The next morning bright and early we rode off to Bantey Chammar. It was one hell of a trek. Cambodian driving would have to be described as "creative" as there appeared to be no rhyme or reason to thier actions. We dodged and dived and ducked our way for 3 hours north. The final 30Km was on dirt, the last 5km peppered with deep potholes filled with the finest bulldust. Luckily I did not put the bike down although it came pretty close a couple of times. I got bogged in one hole that fit the entire bike, Jacqui having to bail out so I could drag the thing up and out of the hole. We made it to the temple a huge sprawling complex that renewed our tomb raider theme. There was virtually no one about, in fact we had to search out someone so that we could buy a ticket. Being honest and honourable folk we wanted to pay because we believed in supporting the upkeep. The temple itself is on the scale of Angkor Wat but it is almost totally pulled down by the surrounding trees and vegetation. I reckon it was built on the same lines as the Bayonne at Angkor Thom, the one with all the towers with faces on them as it had similar towers with faces. We clambered over the ruins for about 2 hours. It was even more spectacular than Beng Mealea several days before. We were completely alone and  made our way through by intuition and luck. We found amazing freezes on the walls depicting battles and daily life of the time and many armed gods with fantastic adornments. We finally made our way back to the bike and went to have lunch in the local village. The trip back to Battambang was quicker as I knew where a lot of the potholes were and we were familiar with the route. We were only nearly killed once when this bloody great truck did a U turn in front of us. Thank the gods for my experience, reflexes and good brakes as without them I would not be writing this now! We made good time getting home so were able to have a "Blueberry and coconut freeze" (a kind of shake that Jacqui and I love and crave) and a shower at our hotel before the opening.

Now comes the really good part. We rocked up to the gallery, which was next door to the place that sells the Blueberry and Coconut freeze called unsuprisingly "The Kitchen". We  met Igor and the Artist and walked into the gallery. Out the front was a life sized Water Buffalo made out of recycled tyres and inner tubes. It felt like buffalo skin and was very impressive. Inside was an array of paintings and installations that caught and challenged the imagination and the mind. Some were confronting and some were just "Wow"! There were a number of different styles and also mediums. There were projectors showing different and strange scenes of cambodian life as art and fortunately a lot of food to nibble on. Waitresses from The Kitchen wondered through dispensing a prodigious variety of cocktails some tasty some fruity and all alcoholic. There is a burgeoning art scene in Battambang and we had stepped bang smack into the middle of it thanks to Igor. We wondered through the rooms around a huge crowd of people enjoying the space and the atmosphere. Because they had so much going on the fuses kept blowing and the place would plunge into darkness every so often. This did not deter. At one stage we went down the road to another bar/resteraunt with a woman from Melbourne to have a drink and sit down. When we got back the "performance" had just got started. To explain.... we had stumbled onto (when we went to the Chocoart cafe) a group of amazing young artists who had been working together and supporting each other for a couple of years. The "performance" was thier collective work. The scene was set in the middle of an alley (street 1.5) out the front of the gallery. There was a very large blank canvass upright in the middle of the street. In front by a few metres were two "trees" in pots. At one side a man was standing on a small wooden step. He was naked except for underpants and completely covered in white paint. He stood there motionless. One of the artists came round from the back of the canvass and with a straw broom/brush he began to hit and brush the canvas with paint. His movements were full of energy and emotion. The effect was spellbinding. The artist finished his work and went behind the canvas. A second appeared and using the brush applied more colours. Another appeared who had very long hair. He proceeded to dip his hair into the paint and wip the canvas with it again with energy and emotion. By this time I am beside myself, it was so powerful! When he had finished his work and had gone behind the canvas the painted man began, slowly at first, with just a twitch to move. He walked to the painting and took up a position like a crucifix in front of the canvas. Two of the artists appeared with knotted hessian ropes that were quite thick and began to whip the canvas with these ropes dipped in paint, right beside the man painted white. The effect was extremely violent and intimidating. The white man began to push the men with ropes away violently from the canvas as if to protect it. Then a third artist appeared carrying a chain (about 2m long). He proceeded to beat the canvas after dipping the chain in paint. Again it was violent and intimidating and to me evocative of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge period. He then wrapped the bloodied chain (it was red paint he used) around the body of the white painted man and dragged him to the ground. The red paint scouring his white body. The effect was electric! Then the light went out and the street plunged into darkness. Flaming torches were lit and the trees in front set on fire. This provided the light. The artists surrounding the hunched painted man on the floor. They appeared to go through an epiphany, realising that they had made a serious mistake. They seemed lost and bereft. One went behind the canvas and returned with some orange scarves. He gave each artist a scarf. They then stood the white painted man up. He was smeared with red from the chain. They lifted his arms to form the crucifix and wrapped the scarves around his body, his arms and his head. It was done in a gentle, caring and compassionate way, full of sad emotion. He responded in a forgiving way. They then stood together and bowed. The crowd erupted. I was beside myself, my heart swelled, I felt  so much joy and emotion. I was overwhelmed. To have had the chance to see this whole thing was incredible. We were soooo LUCKY. As people wondered we stayed to talk with one of the artists (he was the one that painted Igors painting he bought the previous day) he was a very young man, like they all were. He was such a lovely person, gentle, self-effacing, I felt very humble and very grateful for his gift. Jacqui and I are still blown away by the memory. I  certainly won't forget it.

I have purposely not attached any photos to this blog. The next blog hopefully will contain three videos that I hope will convey most of what happened. The whole performance took about 30 minutes so I could not hold up my tablet for the whole time. If the videos are too big for the blog to post, I will post them individually.