Cambodia is a country rich in history. Going back hundreds of years, to the 10th-12 centuries, the city of Angkor, in Siam Reap, was the center of religion and culture. There are hundreds of ruins in Angkor, some of which have yet to be discovered. Today these temple complexes are a large tourist attraction, bringing in people from all over the world. Although Angkor Wat is probably the most famous temple (it is on the Cambodian flag), the images of the Bayon Temple grace many tour guides as well as novels and books about Cambodia. The reason that the Bayon temple is famous is that, atop its towers, there are massive faces. It is suggested that these faces are portraits of Jayavarman VII as the Bodhisattva, somone who has the ability to reach enlightenment but decides to remain on earth to better human kind. To me, the most astonishing aspect of these faces is that each one is slightly different, with a different expression across his face. The expression, however, is always a smile. It appears as if the huge heads overlooking all of Angkor hold secrets. The smirk on each face atop the temple seems to hold a secret to the Cambodia way of living. Through these smiles, I get a sense of pride and strength. After the glory days of Cambodia as a huge culture center, it became a French protectorate. Located between Vietnam and Thailand, Cambodia began to be encroached upon by its neighboring countries, so because of its location and the fact that it was a French protectorate, Cambodia found itself struggling politically. Then, as a response to unstable politics and unhappy citizens, Pol Pot came to power as the leader of the Khmer Rouge, a communist political party. As Pol Pot took over Cambodia, he and the Khmer Rouge relocated Cambodians to the countryside and forced them into slave labor under harsh and cruel conditions. It is estimated that 2 million Cambodians were murdered, and their lives the way they knew them, filled with culture and spirit, would never be the same.
What struck me so strongly about Cambodia when I was there, was that, dispite the tragedies of Cambodian history, the Khmer people truly enjoy life, and their faces are graced with that same look, that same smile which has become known as the Smile of Cambodia. It is a look of pride and strength. In this series of portraits, although not everyone is smiling, the facial expressions all show a sense of pride about being Cambodian.
