Cambodian artists confront gender roles with contemporary art
The Cambodian tradition of chbap srey is the women’s law that negatively impacts contemporary life, praising silence, obedience and modesty in a girl from a young age.
Artist Oeur Sokuntevy says there are many limitations placed on women, and recounts the time that no one in her family supported her during her first exhibition. Oeur was expected to learn to cook, to behave a certain way, to be a ‘good girl’.
Young female artists in Cambodia are questioning these customs that limit women’s roles and challenging the perception that “women should be seen rarely, and heard even less”.