“Khmer Din is a visual representation of my disconnected memories. The project started at a time when I was bored with photography and had not been taking pictures for a while, and since taking pictures is all I have ever known as a creative outlet, I was suffocating.”
The introductory text by Ronny Sen just cuts to the chase, revealing the main impetus behind his Khmer Din photo narrative. ‘This is not an objective story of a place as much as a silent exploration of the darkness that thrives in Siem Reap: on its streets, in bars, the night shelter hotels and the amorphous night figures,’ Ronny Sen tells Platform Magazine about his series, Khmer Din. His first artist book was exhibited at the IPA Photo Books Show 2013, and it was self-published in limited editions.
Ronny Sen had no pre-meditated schedules when he went to Cambodia and started exploring the beautiful city of Siem Reap, but as he rode his bicycle (hired for 2 dollars a day) down its streets at night, he found himself desperate to photograph.
He kept taking photographs of whatever he encountered on the streets – ‘the prostitutes waiting at street corners, the dogs, the buildings, the nocturnal figures.’ It is not just the chaos and activity, but also the silent interjecting stasis that he wanted to capture.
‘The solitude and mania that pervades the night’ left a deep impact on him, as he found himself drawn to people living on the edge but somehow surviving and escaping the predictable ends: jails, institutionalization or death. The darkness of the city resonated with his own sense of disillusionment at the time, fascinating and inspiring him.
Recently, we also featured a story on #HokkoLorob, a massive student protest, featuring incredibly poignant photos by Ronny Sen. You can view that story here.
[Pictures used with permission from the photographer]
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