Context (CMS Context)
Krisna Uk started her PhD fieldwork in Southeast Asia in August 2007 and returned from Cambodia in June 2008. Her doctoral research ultimately focused on an in-depth study of a Jorai village, a Cambodian ethnic minority living in the heavily bombed province of Northeast of Cambodia, which also form parts of the Ho Chi Minh trail that encompasses Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

In the course of this research she has collected a wide range of objects that were locally made by ethnic Lao and Cambodian minorities who have had their communities heavily affected by regional conflicts and civil wars. Despite ethnic differences and geographical variety, these objects have in common their relation to the Indochina War and most particularly their propensity to materialise how people reproduce, create and re-invent the historical memory of the US bombing from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s.
Each and every object is a testimony of how affected communities have dealt with the grievous past by means of artistic creation and craftsmanship. The objects reveal the extent of villagers' resilience as well as both their psychological and physical abilities to cope with the trauma of the conflicts and an everyday environment that is still littered with explosive remnants of war. In that sense, metal recycling, woodcarving and fabric weaving are the visible manifestations of human survival strategy. This opens new windows for further frameworks of analysis of the objects especially when used during ritual processes.
In that particular case, the wooden reproduction of a plane for instance, which is the epitome of the enemy (the B52 bombing plane), has its original meaning subverted so as to become a symbol of omniscience, protection and beauty for both the living and the dead.

Event Date 13/5/2015
Author: maa

Description (CMS Description)
Wood carving illustrating US bombing plane (object is a helicopter but referred to as bombing plane by the Jorai community). Condition: Good. Soot pigment is coming off, peg handles does not fit into the socket beneath the base. The blades at the front are not attached, their peg is missing.
Event Date 13/5/2015
Author: maa