Modern Slavery: A Cambodian Man's Story

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Modern Slavery: A Cambodian Man's Story

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Vannak Prum was sold 'like an animal' into modern slavery. This is his story.
By Farz Edraki and Anna Whitfeld for Late Night Live
Posted yesterday at 11:27pm
Image
Vannak Prum was born the same year the Khmer Rouge fell, but his earliest childhood memories in Cambodia are of illustrations.

"As a young person I always loved being an artist, drawing," he says.

It started small: etchings of Bruce Lee in the dirt in front of his house.

He couldn't have conceived that, years later, he would use illustrations to convey a story more incredulous than any action film plot — his own.

Sold into slavery onto an illegal Thai fishing boat at the age of 26, Vannak escaped after three years, only to be sold again to a plantation farm in Malaysia.

When he finally made it back to Cambodia, his wife didn't believe his story.

Until he started drawing.

"I drew my way back into the family home," he writes in his graphic memoir, The Dead Eye and the Deep Blue Sea, which details his long journey of modern servitude at sea and on land.

Vannak's wife was pregnant when he first decided to leave their village.

"I needed some money, some finance to be able for her to have the baby, check-ups in hospital," he tells RN's Late Night Live.

But while searching for temporary work on the Thai-Cambodian border, he was detained and trafficked onto a fishing boat.

"Life on the boat was very hard," he says.

"People were murdered, beheaded — all sorts of things."
Full article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-10/ ... e/11376990
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Re: Modern Slavery: A Cambodian Man's Story

Post by Ghostwriter »

That would be an interesting Ted talk.
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Re: Modern Slavery: A Cambodian Man's Story

Post by SternAAlbifrons »

His work is very good. Not quite as simplistic as it first appears.
Excellent, descriptive portrayals of his world, especially seaboard life.
Figures are in that slightly cartoonish Khmer style, but better than most, and they really do capture the character of the individuals.
Great colours.

The film clip here has a short interview and shows off some of his best work.
Google image search for more, he has quite a large body of work.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/kidnapped-b ... rn-slavery
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