APT6

My favourite work from the APT 6 so far...

Sopheap Pich, 'Buddha' (from the 1979 series)

Rattan, wire,

dye sculpture

His series of sculptures titled 1979 is inspired by Pich’s childhood memories of his family’s journey across Cambodia, at the end of the Khmer Rouge era (1975–79). As an eight year old, he remembers having been confused by the strange objects – mines, bombs and shells – he saw littering the countryside: ‘I didn’t know where they came from. From the sky? From the war?’

After many days of walking, Pich’s family settled temporarily in the grounds of the Wat Ta Mim temple in Battambang. He recalls his experience of entering the temple:

. . . there was a feeling of fear, of haunt. Inside the temple, on the ceiling, and floor, red all over. On the other end was ghostly, shadowy shapes of different objects unclear to me at the time, but this was a place where statues are located.

God, I just think this is magnificent. I love the fluidity of the lines as they unwrap. It's beautiful. I'm still contemplating the meaning of the piece a bit, but I'll get back to you. For now, it's a stunning installation, so different to everything else I saw on the website. A lot more simple, I think, than a lot of the other pieces.