Phnom-Penh, Cambodia | Khmer shadow theatre, like all traditional arts, was particularly threatened during the Khmer Rouge. The Sovanna Phum Art Association works to promote traditional Khmer culture by offering an artistic platform for education, creation and performance dedicated to traditional arts. Since 2010, Carène has been supporting a project to replace the collection of traditional puppets used during the performances of the association.
Khmer traditional performing arts
Khmer traditional performing arts suffered tremendously during the years of the Khmer Rouge. The goal of the Sovanna Phum Art Association is to revive them in order to preserve these treasures of ancestral Khmer culture. Founded in 1994, the association provides both a platform allowing Cambodian artists to live from their art thanks to the many performances organized all over the country and an opportunity to spread Khmer culture in wider circles of the population.
Reviving ancestral Khmer culture
Civil war, and particularly the years between 1975 and 1979, during the bloody regime of the Khmer Rouge, were marked by a purge of all liberal influences as well as of religion and the arts. The Sovanna Phum Art Association, founded in 1994, is dedicated to revive ancestral Khmer arts and culture.
The Sovanna Phum Art Association
Today, Sovanna Phum has a dynamic network of 120 energetic professional artists. Most of the artists of Sovanna Phum were students and graduates from The Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh. The artistic activities of the association include shadow puppet theatre, classical and folk dances, traditional music and musical theatre accompanied by drums. In addition to its own artistic activities, Sovanna Phum Art Association is regularly requested to develop educational traveling shows on important issues in order to raise awareness in a society where the illiteracy rate is still very high.
The project financed by Carène
In its performances, the association uses a collection counting about one hundred traditional shadow puppets. Most of them belong to a great master of this art, the association’s cofounder, Mann Kosal. These puppets have been used for performances for over 20 years. Some of them should probably be in a museum, while others are very damaged by intensive use and transportation and as a result the artists are hindered in conveying to the audience the full range of nuances that make up the richness of their art.
The project supported by Carène in 2010 consists in recreating most of the shadow puppets used by the association. It is important to underline that the manufacturing of the puppets is also a traditional art that employs numerous artisans and artists. The largest puppet can require up to two months of work for an experienced artist.
The Carène Foundation’s contribution
2010
The Sovanna Phum Art Association’s traditional shadow puppets have been used for performances for over 20 years. Some are very damaged and they need to be replaced. It is important to underline that the manufacturing of the puppets is also a traditional art, and Mann Kosal, cofounder of the association, is a great master of this art. The contribution of the Foundation in 2010 (USD 13,270) was used to buy the necessary materials to enable the Sovanna Phum Art Association to continue manufacturing new shadow-puppets to replace the aging ones.
2011
Given the quality of the partnership and cooperation with Sovanna Phum Art Association, our Foundation Board has decided to continue supporting the Association in 2012 and to grant a new contribution of USD 16,988 in order to:
- Complete the acquisition of a new truck and the manufacturing of a mobile stage for an amount of USD 8,382.
- Allow the theatre company of the Sovanna Phum Art Association to tour the country, enabling them to collaborate with the Ministry of Health and the CIOMAL [1]Foundation on a pilot project for the early detection of leprosy. These traveling shows aim at raising awareness, in a playful and fictional way, about the dangers of leprosy.
[1] The CIOMAL Foundation conducts its own projects and coordinates projects of the Sovereign Hospitaller Order of Malta in fighting against leprosy and helping its victims.
Source from: http://www.fondationcarene.org
