Left Behind
White Building in Phnom Penh, for a short period of time, human traces have been erased.
Part of Bassac Front Development (Riverfront) in the 60s, White Building was designed by a Cambodian architect Lu Ban Hap, over sighted by Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann and Russian-French born engineer Vladimir Bodiansky. Inaugurated in 1963, the White Building was designed to house moderate-income tenants, mainly artists.
After victory over Khmer Rouge in 1979, Ministry of Culture & Fine Arts had gathered survivors’ artists by offering few hundred families each apartment for living in the White Building as it is next to the former Preah Suramarit national theatre. I spent few last months before the destruction of the building in July 2017 with the mostly 2500 people living there.
Looking at the objects which people had left behind, I documented in a poetic approach their lives.
White Building, your soul has given space to gambling casino …
Phnom Penh, 2017