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FAHTHAI
In 1994, they bought the plot of land on which Phare now sits,
which is just behind the poverty-stricken village of Anh Chanh
in Ochar commune, on the outskirts of Battambang. The first
classes were held later the same year.
At its sprawling campus, about a 10-minute tuk-tuk ride
from the centre of town, classes in the visual, applied and
performing arts are offered alongside courses based on a state
curriculum and a range of support services for almost 1,000
students. The school welcomes visitors to attend regular
performances and exhibitions.
Surrealist painter Sokuntevy, who is represented by Langlois’
Java Gallery, says, “Phare fostered independence in me, helped
me to think outside the box and channel my emotions. The arts
was wiped out and there hasn’t really been another option in
terms of modern, creative art education.”
Later that evening, I return with the crowds to the centre
for Phare’s popular circus performance, which is held twice a
week under the big top. One of its stars swaggers about onstage
while demonstrating his skills with the
diabolo
, a small reel
that’s balanced, juggled and tossed about on string. He steps
it up a notch by launching himself onto a human pyramid and
walking a tightrope. His fellow performers get in on the action
by twisting and contorting their bodies, juggling fire sticks and
performing flips, somersaults and leaps from incredible heights.
They revel in the rapturous applause.
“Students that come through Phare seem to become
better at expressing concepts. It’s a broad and well-rounded
education,” co-founder Tor Vutha says. Adds Bandaul,
“My passion is also to serve as a teacher for these students
– it’s very inspiring. Phare is an NGO, this is true, but
we’ve grown into something else. We’re becoming a more
of just seven survivors of the notorious Khmer Rouge torture
prison S-21. Others from the city who perished during the era
include popular ’60s chanteuse Ros Sereysothea and her pop
star peer Pan Ron.
These days, Battambang is once again in the vanguard of
the country’s blossoming contemporary art scene. Among
the successful artists born here are Anida Yoeu Ali, who has
shown her striking video, installation and performance pieces
across the globe, most recently at 2014’s Art Stage Singapore.
Also from Battambang are surrealist painter Oeur Sokuntevy,
photo-realist oil painter Chov Theanly and Chom Nimol, front
woman for Los Angeles-based band Dengue Fever.
But there’s little doubt that the engine powering the city’s
artistic revival is Phare, which Phnom Penh curator Dana
Langlois calls “one of the epicentres of creativity in the
country.” According to Bandaul, he, Decrop and his eight
“brothers” from the Site Two art classes planted the seeds
for the arts school in 1991 when they vowed to return to
Cambodia to use the arts as a tool to help alleviate poverty.
fields, swaying palms and leafy villages before curling around
the city’s glorious architectural jumble. It’s a mix of French
colonial mansions, Thai pagodas, faded Chinese shophouses,
art deco-style cinemas and the concrete mansions and cheap
apartment blocks that have become synonymous with rapid,
often unchecked development in this part of the world. On the
city’s fringes sit 11th- and 12th-century Angkorian ruins.
In late April, Cambodia’s UNESCO country director
Anne Lemaistre announced that Battambang was poised to
be included in its programme as a UNESCO Heritage City.
Thanks to the city’s long-time connection to music, dance and
cinema, Battambang also has been hailed by UNESCO as a
City of Performing Arts.
Before the Khmer Rouge swept to power in 1975 and
killed an estimated two million Cambodians – including 90%
of the country’s artists – Battambang was renowned as the
home province of some of its most celebrated creative people.
Acclaimed painter Vann Nath, born in Battambang, was one
“He was inspired
by the strength
and determination
required inmartial
arts and gymnastics
and the beauty he
saw in the bas reliefs
of circus troupes at
Angkor”
