Some of the photographs from Kate Driscoll's display, taken during her trip to Cambodia. The world has watched Cambodia for years, she says, and needs to take action to help.Wednesday, 11 October 2006
The story of Cambodia
Reporter: Fiona Parker
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Some of the photographs from Kate Driscoll's display, taken during her trip to Cambodia. The world has watched Cambodia for years, she says, and needs to take action to help.
Kate Driscoll is a Horsham-based visual artist, exhibiting at the Wimmera Art Show over the weekend of 14 -15 October, 2006.
Kate was one of a group of 18 Horsham locals who visited the village of Sihanoukville earlier this year to build homes for locals, in partnership with the Tabitha Foundation. While she spent time swinging a hammer, Kate also carried a camera during the trip and became the 'official photographer' for the group.
"While I was there, I also decided to take another series of photographs that I've set aside outlining my experiences in Cambodia and trying to bring to the world a picture of the plight of Cambodia," Kate says.
"I have done a lot of backpacking through Asia over the last few years, and usually when I go, I try to take a series of photographs on a particular topic. But when I got to Cambodia, I was so humbled by the people and moved by their plight that I thought that a story still needs to be told with Cambodia. The world has basically watched Cambodia but done very little right through the Vietnam War, then afterwards when there was some invasions by Vietnam, and then the Pol Pot regime.
"There is a feeling that the world could have done more to help Cambodia.
"For instance, at the moment in Cambodia, the major killers of children are polio and tuberculosis, coupled with dengue fever - polio and tuberculosis are preventable illnesses in our society.
"It [the exhibition] was mainly to highlight that there is a lot of work that needs to be done in Cambodia. It has started, and there are many countries in there doing interesting things, but so much work needs to be done."
Kate says she's tried to make the exhibition 'like a fairytale' - showing Cambodia's past as a mythical kingdom, before things went bad.
"It talks about the art and enlightenment, the Khmer empire, and then it goes into the dark forces that gathered - Pol Pot, the killing fields, the S-21 torture chambers [now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum] - then I have a conclusion of photos of the children of today, mainly under about 12 or 15 years of age.
"While they're cute photos of children, each one of them tells a story. They're not bright-eyed like our children. There's a look of sadness or some ill health about them. They're the future of Cambodia, but they're not going to be the future of Cambodia unless those children get a lot of support from the rest of the world."
The exhibition, Kate says, is a plea for the rest of the world to stop watching Cambodia, and do something to help.
Kate Driscoll is a Horsham-based visual artist, exhibiting at the Wimmera Art Show over the weekend of 14 -15 October, 2006.
Kate was one of a group of 18 Horsham locals who visited the village of Sihanoukville earlier this year to build homes for locals, in partnership with the Tabitha Foundation. While she spent time swinging a hammer, Kate also carried a camera during the trip and became the 'official photographer' for the group.
"While I was there, I also decided to take another series of photographs that I've set aside outlining my experiences in Cambodia and trying to bring to the world a picture of the plight of Cambodia," Kate says.
"I have done a lot of backpacking through Asia over the last few years, and usually when I go, I try to take a series of photographs on a particular topic. But when I got to Cambodia, I was so humbled by the people and moved by their plight that I thought that a story still needs to be told with Cambodia. The world has basically watched Cambodia but done very little right through the Vietnam War, then afterwards when there was some invasions by Vietnam, and then the Pol Pot regime.
"There is a feeling that the world could have done more to help Cambodia.
"For instance, at the moment in Cambodia, the major killers of children are polio and tuberculosis, coupled with dengue fever - polio and tuberculosis are preventable illnesses in our society.
"It [the exhibition] was mainly to highlight that there is a lot of work that needs to be done in Cambodia. It has started, and there are many countries in there doing interesting things, but so much work needs to be done."
Kate says she's tried to make the exhibition 'like a fairytale' - showing Cambodia's past as a mythical kingdom, before things went bad.
"It talks about the art and enlightenment, the Khmer empire, and then it goes into the dark forces that gathered - Pol Pot, the killing fields, the S-21 torture chambers [now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum] - then I have a conclusion of photos of the children of today, mainly under about 12 or 15 years of age.
"While they're cute photos of children, each one of them tells a story. They're not bright-eyed like our children. There's a look of sadness or some ill health about them. They're the future of Cambodia, but they're not going to be the future of Cambodia unless those children get a lot of support from the rest of the world."
The exhibition, Kate says, is a plea for the rest of the world to stop watching Cambodia, and do something to help.
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