SIEM REAP - Inspired by the ancestral yantras—geometric design used to worship in Cambodia—and the spiritual energy of wild animals, an artist in Siem Reap has painted a series of works reflecting tradition, beliefs, and personal experience.

Caption: Artist Chhoeun Channy (right) during an interview with Zul Rorvy (left) from ThmeyThmey Digital Media on January 18 in Siem Reap city. Photo: Thorng Broney

In one work, large bold elephants make the dusty ground tremble as they walk, holding bouquets of lotus flowers. In another, two peafowl gracefully stand on a tree branch under the rays of the morning light. And in another, a green frog with widened, flaming red eyes is shown along with a few lines of a temple’s Sanskrit inscription.

In his exhibition entitled “Wild Spirits, Sacred Symbols”, Chhoeun Channy takes people on a journey to rediscover the importance of nature.

Caption: Chhoeun Channy's artwork on “Wild Spirits, Sacred Symbols". Photo provided.

The artist painted these works in his home, which is located in a calm Cambodian village adorned with age-old temples, pagodas, and farmlands about a 10-minute drive from Siem Reap city centre.

It is with only the sounds of nature and the occasional cluck of chickens to distract him that Channy prepared these paintings for the exhibition now taking place in Siem Reap at the Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor.  

He titled this series of artworks “Wild Spirits, Sacred Symbols.”

Caption: Chhoeun Channy's artwork on “Wild Spirits, Sacred Symbols". Photo provided.

“My artworks are inspired by the yantras of our ancestors, which are usually made on red and white clothes adorned with sacred Pali text as well as animals of the wild,” Channy said during an interview.  

In Cambodia, yantras, which are shown as geometric diagrams in the religious tradition, are often featured in homes, businesses and stores to welcome happiness and repel bad luck. They are considered sacred by people and are often hung on the wall or on the roof beams of wooden houses.

Channy’s inspiration for these paintings goes back to his childhood he spent with his family at a remote location in Battambang province. His father, who was a soldier in the 1990s, was given by the government a parcel of land in the jungle to farm and support his family.

Caption: Chhoeun Channy's artwork on “Wild Spirits, Sacred Symbols". Photo provided.

“I was raised at a remote location,” Channy said who was born in 1988. “We often ventured into the forest for fruits, vegetables, and mushrooms. For meat, we would catch fish, frogs and wild birds. We cut trees [to make room for] farmland and villages.”

Later in life, Channy would realize that this had been affecting the environment. “However, I was not aware of what I was doing back then as I was just living in a simple way,” he said.

It was only when he started studying at the art school of the NGO Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang city in 2006 that he became aware of how this had been affecting forests and wildlife.

Caption: Chhoeun Channy's artwork on “Wild Spirits, Sacred Symbols". Photo provided.

Channy graduated at Phare in 2013. And, as a way of asking Nature for forgiveness, he has been incorporating images of animals in their natural environment in his paintings of traditional Cambodian yantras.

The result is vibrant versions of yantras, dynamic animals in movement and this, done with acrylic paint in vivid colours, works that are also an appeal to people to protect the environment and wildlife.

Caption: Chhoeun Channy's art exibition in Siem Reap city. Photo: Thorng Broney

Over the years, Channy’s work has been exhibited in several countries including France, Japan, Singapore, United States in addition to Cambodia.

The exhibition at the Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor in Siem Reap runs until April 30.

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To watch the interview in Khmer, click on the video below:

To watch a previous interview with Chhoeun Channy in English, click on the video below: