before the curtain calls
beauty and the pigs
one who is content
people grow wings
pale woods
median
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Side Quest 1
Side Quest 2
Bio
Ponita (b. 1991) is a Cambodian-Canadian documentarian and artist, though the label shifts depending on the day. Her personal work is a hybrid (ever-changing, ever-confused) practice of documentary storytelling and everyday observation, often drawing on themes of soft control and personal agency.
She previously worked in international news broadcasting, but around the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic realised she was better suited to slower forms of visual storytelling.
Her project Beauty and the Pigs, developed with the support of Noor Images, was nominated for the 2024 Leica Oskar Barnack Award. She was also the recipient of the 8th Objectifs Documentary Award (Open Category, 2025) for The hair between us, with a solo exhibition at the Objectifs Centre in Singapore in 2026.
Aside from her personal projects, Ponita also works in set design for independent narrative films and writing for documentary films
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. Solo Exhibition, The hair between us, Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film, Singapore.
. Artist Talk: On Kinship and Hair, in conversation with curator Syaheedah Iskandar, Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film, Singapore.
2025
. Recipient, 8th Objectifs Documentary Award, Open Category.
. Public Exhibition, Visualising Climate Crisis, Saigon Riverside Park, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
2024
. Artist Talk, Paris College of Art, Paris, France.
. Nominee, Leica Oskar Barnack Award, Beauty and the Pigs.
. Group Exhibition, Visualising Climate Crisis, Angkor Photo Festival, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
2023
. Panelist, Framing the Future: Photography's Impact on Climate Change Awareness in Southeast Asia, Asia-Europe Cultural Festival, Singapore.
. Film Installation, Foujita Foujita (artistic consultant), European Heritage Days at L'Air Arts Cité Falguière, Paris, France.
. Selected for Noor Images Visualising Climate Crisis Southeast Asia Mentorship Programme, Hanoi Vietnam.
. Shortlisted, Portrait of Humanity Vol.5, British Journal of Photography.
2022
. Graduates Exhibition, Magnum Gallery, Paris, France.
. Official Selection, Cambodia International Film Festival (CIFF), People Grow Wings, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.