So far, the Royal Photographic Society Contemporary group, in their magazine, and PhotoBath, both in the latest Showcase 4 book and the Witness exhibition are featuring my work. We have also had to decide on the best descriptions of the book, now in the printing process in Cambodia.
As I get organised for the BRLSI installation, I need to prepare draft marketing materials for their website, emails and flyers. Happily they have a pretty thorough process. After much deliberation, here is a draft for their consideration.
The Khmer Rouge Genocide of 1975-1979 killed between 1.7 and 2.2. million people yet its devastating impact on Cambodia continues to resonate even today, often hidden from view.
These are the personal yet untold stories of people that Mick &, Ingrid Yates, now residents in the Bath area, have known for twenty years, and who suffered terribly during the Genocide.
The couple first visited Cambodia in 1994. On a sunny day at Angkor Wat, they heard the distant rumble of shellfire. The guns prompted their desire to understand the country and its people.
In 1999, the family founded a primary school programme in the Khmer Rouge Reconciliation areas, in partnership with Save the Children and the Cambodian Ministry of Education. It included working with ex-Khmer Rouge.
Keo Sarath and Beng Simeth, survivors of the Genocide, were responsible for managing the school programme. They have both dedicated their lives to education, and this is their story.
The exhibition combines Mick’s allegorical photography from the silent Killing Fields which are all over the country, with powerful quotes from Sarath and Simeth telling of their harrowing experiences during the Genocide. Sarath will be in Bath for the exhibition, to give a talk with Mick.
The exhibition also features a brief history of the Cambodian tragedy to set the context, and a positive update on education activities today.
A book is simultaneously being published in Cambodia, and will be available in the UK.
I have already produced postcards about the show to hand out at the Witness show and elsewhere (header, above), which seem very well regarded for both quality and content, and I am exploring other options such as newspaper, flyers and zines.