Please visit Meta House on this Dec 11 to commemorate the late Cambodian master. We’ll screen a 41-minute interview from 2007, led by Meta-founder Nico Mesterharm as well as a slide show with selected works. Svay Ken’s brother Sanuch will address the audience.

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Born in 1933, 70 years after the French colonial occupation of Kampuchea to a family of farmers and temple painters in rural Takeo province, Ken married and began his 34-year career as a handyman at the landmark Raffles Hotel le Royal in Phnom Penh. Upon his retirement in 1993, he changed careers when hotel guests began purchasing his hobby paintings for more than his monthly salary.

In the context of Cambodia, Svay Ken’s paintings were considered radical. A survivor of the Camboduabn genocide, Ken was completely self-taught. He became the first Cambodian artist to candidly depict daily life, rather than glorify rural vistas or ancient monuments.