Andrew Seng
My work is focused on visualizing and preserving the memory of resilience, strength, beauty, and dreams of those who were apart of the Cambodian diaspora and their descendants. More broadly, my work practice explores the shared experiences of the diaspora such as how resettlement shapes identity and ideas of race, healing from the trauma of the past and present caused by genocide, and the push and pull between retaining cultural identity and the American expectation of assimilation.
Critical to my work is continuing to create an ongoing visual archive for future generations of Cambodian children, whose lives are often not reflected in mainstream media. During the genocide, many facets of the Cambodian art world were systematically destroyed or lost. I do this work to reclaim what was lost, to contribute to a new visual language for Cambodians, and to connect the experiences of over 5,000 Oregon-based Cambodians to the diaspora at large.