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.