when there is water the fish eats the ant...

when there is no water the ant eats the fish. So goes an old Khmer proverb illustrating the struggles of the rural poor here. A photography exhibit opened recently, a part of a city wide promotion of Khmer contemporary art. One of the photographers, Mok, chose to tell his story using this parable and some beautifully constructed images of ants and fish. I invited my Khmer tutor, Sophea, to the show and she was curious about the seemingly abstract images. Before I had even read the artists description of the parable he was illustrating, I explained to Sophea that it was about the balance of nature, that sometimes the fish gets the ant and sometimes the ant gets the fish. She asked me how I knew this and I said I didn’t know but that contemporary art is meant to be interpreted. I suggested she ask the photographer what he was trying to impart, as he was standing next to us. She did, and they had a long conversation (in Khmer) while going over each of the twelve or so photos. As they did this I read the brochure and the parable. She later told me that he was using the parable to describe his life during the Khmer Rouge era. She was very moved and thanked me for taking her. She admitted that at first she didn’t see any point in the abstract images of ants and fish.