First Cambodia Peace Gallery to Provide a Safe Space to Study Cambodia's History
30 October 2018
After more than a decade of working in conflict resolution around the world, Dr. Emma Leslie, executive director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, together with her husband Dr. Soth Plai Ngarm, brought to Cambodia the Cambodia Peace Gallery. The gallery had its official opening on October 23, 2018, in Battambang province.
The vision of the project is to provide a space where survivors can share, reflect on and learn from their experiences. There are three main buildings; the main hall and two gallery buildings featuring paintings and portraits reflecting Cambodia's history and its effort in peace building after the Khmer Rouge genocide. Located 15 kilometers away from the city centre of Battambang province, the Cambodia Peace Gallery is ready to welcome local and international visitors who wish to learn about Cambodia's past.
Photos on the link: https://www.voacambodia.com/a/4634060.html

‘Peace Museum’ Opens in Cambodia Focused on Reconciliation
31 October 2018
Dr. Soth Plai Ngarm, a local peace activist and the founder of the Cambodia Peace Gallery, said the project would use photographs and other art forms to represent “positivity” in conflict.

“Art forms that we use are the things that represent both history and positivity. We have plenty of museums that show in-depth suffering of Cambodians, so we instead want to bring an art form that has positive character for young Cambodian leaders of the next generation.”

Ngarm believes that there is still work to be done to heal the collective trauma suffered by the Cambodian people. Cambodia witnessed many decades of conflict since the 1970s, when the United States waged a covert war against Cambodia in the lead up to the Khmer Rouge takeover in 1975.

“People from my period were radicalized. When we joined groups, not for any political reason, but rather to seek food, we were trapped. These groups created their own identity, which never really existed,” he said.

“When war ended and we lived together again, these identities make us suspect each other, even if we are friends and neighbors. Therefore, reconciliation is very important for young people. If reconciliation is not done right, the divide will infect later generations.”
https://www.voacambodia.com/a/peace-mus ... 35413.html

Resident Nikki Singer At Work In Cambodia Peace Gallery
By Kendra Bobowick
Published: December 02, 2018 at 07:00 am

Living in Cambodia for the past five years, Ms Singer has been heavily involved with, and is now director of The Cambodia Peace Gallery in Battambang, which just opened on October 23, 2018. The gallery/museum is run by the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. She has had a hand in “all aspects of the project — coordinating renovations of the museum site (a former countryside school and community development centre), researching and designing the exhibitions, collecting archives and materials, and developing peace education programs for university students at the museum,” she said.

Despite a 12-hour time difference between Newtown and Cambodia, Ms Singer was able to provide information and insights to The Newtown Bee about her work.

“I have been in Cambodia for almost five years,” she said. She has plans “to stay for longer,” although she is “not sure yet what that looks like, but I imagine another five years is very possible.”

Now that the museum has opened, Ms Singer said, “Our focus will be on developing peace education programs for university students as well as programs aimed at intergeneration reconciliation — bringing together people who lived through the war period and younger people who were born after the war ended, to heal some of the community divisions that still exist and create space for sharing of stories, experiences, and what people have learned from their experiences.”

“The big next focus” of her future plan involves co-designing the educational and reconciliation programs, she said. “Another one is working with new guides to give tours of the museum, which would be university students, and another way for us to work with young people to gain a deeper understanding of the history, process of ending the war, and how they can play a role in sustaining peace in the country.”

From her time in Cambodia she said she has “learned a much deeper level of patience, and the importance of going with the flow — learning from the people I am working with instead of jumping in and trying to rush the process.”

She said, “Forgiveness, compassion, and justice are also experienced and understood differently. I arrived in Cambodia with a sense that tribunals and proceeding with criminal cases against the people who led the Khmer Rouge would be a pathway for getting justice for people who suffered under the Khmer Rouge.

“But so many people I’ve met talk about different reasons that they have decided to forgive the Khmer Rouge — namely, that everyone had suffered at some point. And that to move forward, they need to forgive the past rather than carrying hatred and vengeance in their hearts. This has really resonated with me,” she said.

She added, “In Cambodia, there are a lot of contradictions, and it can be confusing to unpack all the dynamics in a simple situation. And yet there is so much strength and resilience and a refusal to be defined by the single worst thing that happened in society that I find incredibly inspiring and humbling.”
https://www.newtownbee.com/resident-nik ... y/12022018