The Hawker’s Song

Urban development, spacial conflicts, and silent streets

Street hawkers, singing plaintive songs designed to sell their wares, are an important part of life in Phnom Penh that seems to be disappearing. The streets no longer bustle with the sounds of the bicycle carts and the sellers' songs are not heard as often. Inspired by the rich cultural tradition of orality, exchange and commerce that appears to be dying in a race towards 'modernisation', the work highlights global concerns around the death of the local, in the face of capital and technological progression.

The Hawker’s Song was a collaborative project between Cambodian artists Srey Bandol, Meas Sekorn, and Australian artists Sue McCauley and Keith Deverell. The project was produced by Java Arts, and was supported by The Creative Australia, and Creative Victoria.

The Hawker’s Song, Le Mansion Exhibition, Phnom Penh, 2010

The Hawker’s Song, Le Mansion, phnom Penh, filmed and edited by Micheal Buckley, 2010

BORDER, The Hawker's Song, Duel Screen, HD 1080p

Egg and the Chicken

The Russian Embassy in all its former Communist glory is decayed and old, it shows the sign of a failed state. Before the Khmer Rouge this building was here, standing tall, standing for its ideology. One day the Khmer Rouge soldiers knocked on the door and welcomed as comrades, as red brothers. The soldiers entered and open the fridge. In side aghast was an egg. On seeing this food the solider picked it up and smashed it on the ground. The solider look at the Russians with accusation in their eye. You are not a true communist they decreed, the true communist only eats the Chicken not the egg. Many chickens come from the egg.

A story told by Srey Bandol whilst walking the streets of Phnom Penh