RAVY PUTH - FROM BURIED TO LIVING ARCHIVES


Re-creating vinyl covers of Cambodian rockers killed by the Khmer Rouge serves as a means of reclaiming history. It resurrects artifacts proving counter-stories from the West’s hegemonic narrative of the oriental failed race. Bringing hidden history to the surface transforms a tragic frozen past to a present’s acknowledgement of a Cambodian act of refusal to assimilation.

Illustrating music can make dead documents a living archive, as visual and sound have the power to mediate and awaken pieces of memory loss. Re-representation leads to the possible re-narration of stories, the re-appropriation of a scar pushes dialogue to happen, resurrecting oral history that brings a collective closer to healing.


On the left, there is the square vinyl cover. Thereis a smiling young Cambodian woman with a fringe and hair that stop at her chin hand-drawn in shades of hot pink to white. Around her is a fine lined yel-low halo with lines drawn outwards. There is dark purple blurb behind her head as part of the background. The background of the is orangy-amber yel-low, and the lettering is purple and pink reads in English « Best of Pan Ron»and « Rebellious Rocker» and her name in Cambodian. There are some hand-drawn fine line purple flowers on the yellow background. On the right side and slightly inside the cover, there is the black vinyl with a central orange-amber yellow label with pink Khmer writing on it.

On the right, there is the square vinyl cover. There is a smiling Cambodian man in a suit with a bowtie handling a micro-phone with his right hand hand-drawn in shades of hot pink to white. Around him is a fine lined white halo with lines drawn outwards. The background of the indigo and lime green with some purple hand-drawn lotus flowers.The lettering is purple, green and pink, and reads in english « The Best of Sin Si-samouth» and « Elvis of Cambodia» as well as his name in Cambodian. On the left side and slightly inside the cover, there is the black vinyl with a cen-tral lime green label with pink and black Khmer writing on it.

On the left, there is the square vinyl cover. Thereis a smiling young Cambodian woman with a fringe and hair up in a bun, shades of hot pink to white. She wears a flower shaped necklace and mat-ching earrings. Around her is a fine lined white halo with lines drawn out-wards. Her image is cut before the bust and her image is contained inside anindigo blurb background. The background of the cover is light pink and the lettering is indigo and light pink reads in English « Best of Ros Serey So-thea» and «Cambodia’s golden voice» and her name in Cambodian transla-tion. There are some hand-drawn fine line indigo and pink flowers on the converse color background. On the right side and slightly inside the cover, there is the black vinyl with a central light pink label with hot pink Khmer writing on it.