25 (2018)

3 channels video installation, color with sound, 32’07”
Khmer with English subtitle
preview video

United Nations Transformational Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) was a UN peacekeeping operation in Cambodia from 1992-1993. It was largely praised as the most ambitious and successful UN peacekeeping operation at that time, involving oganising and running a multi-party election, repatriation of more than 360,000 Cambodian refugees from the Thai border, and promoting human rights.

This very peacekeeping project, however, also produced several new cycles of injustice. They are a number of undocumented children born from UNTAC peacekeeper parents and Cambodian partners. Many of the children of UNTAC that I met are of African descent who have Cambodian mothers and do not know or lost touch with their fathers.

They are the embodiment of the problematic relationship produced by people from other poor nations in Cambodia through the UN. After some in-depth conversations with each person along with a study of their personal archives, the participants came together to discuss their personal stories and views about UNTAC. The result is a three channels video installation immersing the viewer within that conversation. The blue background recalls the setting of UNTAC TV in 1992-1993.