On Embassy Wall, Photos of Eyes Surprise
Not everyone fully understands the meaning behind the photographs, but the installation does generate opinions. (01 December 2008)
Cambodian onlookers expressed surprise and wondermentoutside the walls of the French Embassy Monday, where prints of giant eyespeered back at them, slowing traffic on the street, amassing a crowd along the curband eliciting a wide variety of ideas. Seventeen black-and-white photographs, three meters high, five meters wide, by a French photographer who only uses the name JR, depictthe eyes of women and girls. Some of them are wide open, as if in surprise orshock. Others are narrowed and seem to depict thought, or sometimeshopelessness. Some eyes are closed, considering. Also stuck on the wall is a message from JR, who says thephotographs are a comment on the role of women, and domestic violence. Whatevertheir meaning, the giant photos have attracted crowds on the boulevard, aspeople slow when they pass, or stop. Not all fully understand the meaning behind thephotographs, but the installation does generate opinions. “Those photos want to tell the public, both old and young,to open their eyes and not park their motorbikes or cars in front of theembassy,” Pich Sary, a 28-year-old motorcycle taxi driver, said, adding thatwhile he didn’t fully understand the display, he was trying. Preap Sopheak, an 18-year-old student from Preak Leap highschool, passing by on his bicycle, said he was “very surprised” and “veryscared” by the photos, “because there are the women’s eyes, open.” “But I think it is meaningful for Cambodian people,” hesaid. Ou Srey Pich, 23, said she understood that “the picturesshow us to open our eyes, to watch the development of PhnomPenh. The pictures also want people to see the view of Phnom Penh, and do not want the people to make darkness.” “All the photos explain that people in Cambodian societyshould turn from violence against women and children to promote their roles andthe living of people peacefully,” Puth Sopheak, a 27-year-old graduate lookingfor work, said. “Those pictures are very difficult to understand, but I thinkthose pictures will show the great suffering of women and children who have metthe consequences of war and violence in society.” French Embassy spokeswoman Fabyen Mansencal said theexhibition of installation is of women from various countries, especially India and Africa.The exhibit is important for the Cambodian people “to look at and consider.”