Born in Phnom Penh in 1980, Vandy Rattana has been photographing his native Cambodia with a devotion to creating documents that elucidate the hidden realities of contemporary Cambodian existence while creating a more comprehensive historical record for future Cambodians as well as international audiences. As a founding member of the artist collective Stiev Selepak (Art Rebels), Vandy opened Phnom Penh’s first artist-run exhibition space, SaSa Gallery, in 2009.
His most renowned series, Fire of the Year (2008) chronicles a small district outside of Phnom Penh as a common fire razes it. A photograph from Fire of the Year was selected and published in the Prix Pictet 2009 publication, Earth Book. This series was also chosen as a finalist for the 2009 Sovereign Asian Art Prize and earned Vandy the position as one of four Cambodian artists chosen to represent the nation for the first time at The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Vandy’s most recent series, The Bomb Ponds (2009) deals with Cambodian provinces most severely bombed by the U.S military during the Vietnam War.
Solo Exhibitions
2012 - Surface, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh.
2011 - The Bomb Ponds, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh.
2010 - Hessel Museum of Art, New York.
2009 - Walking Through, Sa Sa Gallery, Phnom Penh.
2007 - “Chess” solo exhibition, Hotel de la Paix, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
2007 - Looking in My Office, Popil Gallery, Phnom Penh.
Group Exhibitions
2012 - "Poetic Politic", Kadist Art Foundation, Sanfrancisco, USA (shown Bomb Ponds).
2012 - "Bomb Ponds" Noorderlicht International Photo Festival, Netherlands.
2012 - dOCUMENTA 13, "The Brain", Kassel, Germany (shown Bomb Ponds).
2012 - "Bomb Ponds" Eigen+Art Lab, group exhibition, Berlin, Germany.
2012 - Kiev Biennale: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times, Rebirth and Apocalypse in Contemporary Art (shown Bomb Ponds).
2012 - "Rupture and Revival: Cambodian Photography in the Last Decade", The Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore.
2012 - "Documentaries", Saint Paul St Gallery, Auckland (shown Bomb Ponds)
2012 - "Bomb Ponds", collective exhibition at Singapore Art Museum.
2012 - "Bomb Ponds", collective exhibition "Paradise Lost" at 2902 Gallery, Singapore.
2011 - "Between Utopia and Dystopia" University Museum of Contemporary Art, Mexico.
2009 - “Nominee of Prix Pictet 2009 -Earth” England.
2009 - “Fire of the year”, The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT6), Brisbane, Australia.
2009 - “TADAIMA” Looking for Sweet Home.” Exhibition of Asian Contemporary Art at Kyushu University, Japan.
2009 - “Magnetic Power” Group exhibition organized by Asean-Korean Center, Seoul, Korea.
2009 - “Intro” group exhibition of Stiev Selepak (Art Rebels) SaSa Art gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
2009 - “Forever Until Now: Contemporary Art From Cambodia” 10 Chancery gallery, Hong Kong.
2009 - “Chobi Mela V International Photography festival” Dhaka, Bangladesh.
2008 - “Contemporary Arts Practice” Ke center for the Contemporary Arts, Shanghai, China.
2008 - “Transformation” group travelling exhibition of Cambodian and US artists, Phnom Penh, Cambodia and California, USA.
2008 - “The Contemporary Art of Korea, Japan and the U.S.A – Difference and Coexistence”, ASTO Museum of Art, Wrightwood, California.
2008 - Gwanghwamoon International Art Festival, Korea and The First Gallery Avenue, Beijing, China.
2008 - “Road” group travel art exhibition in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (Mekong Art and Culture Project).
2008 - “Art of Survival” group art exhibition, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
2007 - “Art rebels” group photo exhibition, John Mcdermott Gallery, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
2006 - “Self-portraits” group exhibition, Noorderlicht, the Netherlands. Book of the exhibition: “Another Asia”.
2005 - “Looking In”, group exhibition, Popil Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Awards / recognitions
2011 - Signature Art Prize, Asia-Pacific's top 15 finalists (Singapore Art Museum).
2010 - Top 10 Museum Shows for 2010, Art Asian Pacific Almanac (The Bomb Ponds, Hessel Museum, NY)
2009 - Nominee, Prix Pictet "Earth"
2009 - Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) – Excellence in News Photography for the report on Beoung Kok Lake land eviction (for The Phnom Penh Post)
2009 - Finalist at The Sovereign Asian Art Prize (“Fire of the Year”), top 30.
Collections
The Singapore Art Museum
The Queensland Art Gallery
Workshops and residencies
2011 - UNFIXED Photography and Postcolonial Perspective on Contemporary Art (book, 2012), The Netherlands.
2010 - Co-Founder, Sa Sa Art Project, The Building, Phnom Penh.
2009 - “Long March Education – Ho Chi Minh Trail Project” Residency, Beijing, China.
2008 - One-week photography workshop with Antoine D’agata, Magnum photographer, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
2008 - “Silence” one-week photography workshop with Beat Presser, Swiss photographer, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2006 - Photojournalism workshop sponsored by Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and World Press Photo, Manilla, the Philippines.
Photojournalism
2010 - Currently a photographer for the magazine Causes Communes of the association La Cimade, France.
2009 - Staff photographer for Ka-Set (www.ka-set.info), an independent online news website based in Cambodia.
2008 - Worked for English local newspaper Phnom Penh Post.
2008 - Two-week photo assignment for Australian Red Cross covering Water Sanitation and other programmes in Cambodia and Laos PDR.
LES EXPOSITIONS THÉMATIQUES
5 ans, 80 photographes ayant exposé à Photo Phnom Penh depuis 2008, ils présentent leurs nouveaux travaux à la grande galerie de l’Université Royale des Beaux-Arts. Une façon d’accompagner des artistes qui ont constitué la richesse d’une programmation faisant se rencontrer artistes asiatiques et européens, et de les suivre dans l’évolution de leur création. Une façon, également, d’embrasser le champ de la photographie contemporaine, dans ses tendances, dans ses diversités culturelles.
5 ans, 5 jeunes photographes des 5 pays du Mékong
@ Institut français
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© Vandy Rattana - Bomb pounds series, Kandal (2009)
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