the hair between us
before the curtain calls
beauty and the pigs
one who is content
..
pale woods
median
..

SIDE QUEST 1
SIDE QUEST 2



Bio

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Samin and her sisters, Sameat and Sreymom belong to a family of rice farmers in Battambang province, one of Cambodia's main rice-growing provinces. For generations, their family has worked the land and relied on the rhythms of the seasons to sow and harvest. But these days, floods, droughts, and changing weather patterns have forced them to find other means of livelihood. These days, alongside the rice fields, they raise pigs and run a small beauty salon from their home.


Beauty and the Pigs was realised with the support of Noor Images as part of the 2023 Visualising Climate Crisis program. It is a glimpse into the lived realities of farmers, especially women, across Cambodia’s rice-growing regions, where weathering the new realities of the climate has become integral to their survival.

photography series + video portrait. 2023














Video portrait
4K, 1.90.1, colour, 3 minutes, 2023.











Pictures of Samin Kan taped to the wall of her beauty parlour. 
"I used to be pretty but now look at my face. Working in the fields meant I had to sacrifice my looks. But it's not worth it.", says Samin. 
Sameat, Samin and Sreymom's niece, Thida, eighteen, at her aunt Sreymom's home. Her mother wants her to preserve her good looks by staying under the shade. Instead of working the fields, she helps out at the beauty parlour
A depleted rain-fed water reservoir shared among the Kan sisters' families to clean and care for livestock.
After a night of rain, Botoum, fifteen, looks for cherries. She says she often finds new cherries after a night of rain.
Sameat, Samin and Srey Mom's mother, retired in her seventies, sits by the stupa of her late husband who was also a rice farmer like his parents before him. She is mainly cared for by Samin.
Sreymom collects weeds from a field once used for farming rice. The weeds are used as feed for livestock.
Neang Kong Rei, the "left-behind princess” from the legend of Puthisen and Neang Kong Rei.
Samin looks on from the gate of her home. "I'm not married. I have my mother to look after, I can't look after a husband. Plus, I've seen how women suffer with men", she says.
Sisters Samin, Sameat, and Sreymom Kan gaze upon the rice field they have recently replanted from scratch, following a heatwave and drought that claimed their previous crop.
Cousins Thida, Boutum and baby Ti on their family rice field. "We can no longer rely on the sky to help us. So I encourage the children to aspire for other things in life. I don’t want the girls to suffer the same fate", says Ti's mother, Sreymom.



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