Splendor and Darkness (STPI) #23

Produced during Dinh Q Le’s residency at STPI, the Splendour and Darkness series contemplates the heights and depths of Cambodia’s history by weaving together the architectural details of glorious Angkor temples with haunting images of the victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide. Featuring Le’s trademark photo-weaving technique, Splendour and Darkness #23, (2017) expresses Cambodia’s history as a complex tapestry of personal and collective memories. The strips at the bottom half of the work have intentionally been left unwoven, suggesting perhaps an unfinished narrative or a hope for a different future.

Born in Ha Tien, Vietnam, a town close to the border with Cambodia, Le's continued interest in Cambodian history stems possibly from the fraught relationship between the two countries in the late 1970s, a period of unrest and violence which forced his own family to eventually migrate to the United States. This residency at STPI allowed the artist to expand his previous photographic series, Cambodia: Splendor and Darkness, which he began in 1997, enhancing the aesthetic quality of these pieces through the use of matte paper and silver foil which recalls the traditional practice of offering silver and gold leaf in Cambodian temples .