Aeroplanes, smoke, flowers, fireworks repeat like the covering of the lowlands of Cambodia.  The countryside was torn and ripped in the moment bombs exploded.  Skirts tore, and so did the fabric of life.  How much was the earth hurting?

I love the patterns of the countryside; however the effect of war leaves no space for normal life.  Like in this work, the planes and smoke covered the land.  We had no freedom, we were in a prison of war’s making.  The sound of planes made me sad and terrified as a child, and even now is very connected to my insides, reviving the inutero memories of the bombing of my land.  Even later when alone in the rice field I really wanted to be with my family, I felt so scared to be alone.   Whatever people said about the war I didn’t know at all; it was interesting but not touching me deeply.  But the sound of a plane, of far off bombing or gunfire terrified me and I felt like I too had joined the war.

One day I walked on the ricefields.  I walked on the water and on the grass.  I noticed all the life of the land which was gorgeous, harmoniously existing.  It was like meditating, like abstract art.  As I was cutting rice, the sickle cut my finger.  It bled and it was painful, but as I applied some chewed grass to salve my wound, I felt the fabric of life supporting me.  On the other side of the ricefield was a bomb crater lake where two buffalo came to frolic and swim.  Afraid because I knew the dark depths of the watery crater, I imagined what might be lurking there.  

The torn skirt is a flowery skirt adorned with lovely lace flowers.  I want to tell the history of my people, my village, to remember when the bomb smoke lingered still, when all of life was killed by this smoke and all of life became charcoal.  But now life has moved to find safety and grows up anew even between wisps of smoke.  Life is beautiful again.  I say to the bomb, ‘we are beautiful, we are lovely.  We are hurt by bombs but we are still beautiful - and beautiful forever.  Don’t worry, flowers are only flowers, not harming anything.’

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