HOLY: The Sacred in Everyday Life — 25 Cambodian Artists Redefining Contemporary Art

Editorial team
5 hours ago
4 min read

In Siem Reap, just steps away from the Old Market and the shimmering reflections of the river, a new spot has caught the eye of art enthusiasts this month: the River Gallery, which over the years has become a key venue in Cambodia’s artistic landscape.

HOLY: The Sacred in Everyday Life — 25 Cambodian Artists Redefining Contemporary Art

It is there, until March 31, 2026, that HOLY: 25 Cambodian Artists Defining Contemporary Discourse unfolds—an ambitious exhibition bringing together twenty-five artists from nine provinces across the country. Their common thread: a shared desire to express, through material and gesture, what the word “holy” means in Cambodia today.

The sacred as an intimate experience

From the very first step into the gallery, visitors sense the tone of the exhibition: nothing grandiose, nothing overwhelming. HOLY does not aim to dazzle but to provoke reflection. Through paintings, sculptures, installations, and videos, the artists explore an inner territory where the sacred is no longer confined to pagodas but found in the emotions of daily life — the quiet of a home at dawn, a caring gesture, the memory of an ancestor, or the fragile beauty of a tree growing by a rice field.

This intimate, almost meditative approach challenges the notion that contemporary art must be noisy or confrontational. It reminds us that Khmer identity is nourished as much by continuity as by rupture — and that spirituality, often linked with Buddhism, remains a vital foundation of Cambodian social and aesthetic life, even in new and evolving forms.

A generation between roots and horizons

The twenty-five artists featured embody a generation in motion. Many come from provinces — Battambang, Kampong Cham, Prey Veng, or Siem Reap itself — and have migrated to urban centers to pursue their art. Yet their works reveal a deep fidelity to their origins. Their canvases and installations are filled with landscapes, traditions, and symbols from their home villages: rice fields, ancestral spirits, festive gatherings, or gestures from agricultural life.

What stands out in HOLY is a shared will to reconcile heritage and modernity without opposing them. “We’re not trying to erase the past,” said one artist during the vernissage, “but to converse with it.” That phrase may hold the key to the entire exhibition: a constant dialogue between memory and creation, between personal experience and the awareness of a globalized world in which Cambodian art now evolves.

Continuity, resistance, and hope

Today’s Cambodia is not immune to the tensions and uncertainties of the region. Within this context, HOLY appears as a manifesto of gentleness and resilience. By choosing not to address political issues directly, the exhibition champions another kind of courage — that of continuity, care, and presence.

“Creating is a way of staying alive,” each work seems to say. It also reminds us that culture, amid rapid transformation, remains the invisible foundation of a community.

River Gallery director and curator Julia Haw emphasizes this point: “What these artists show us is that Khmer resilience is not a slogan but a lived reality.” For her, HOLY is also a response to isolation and loss of meaning: “Cambodians today are searching for a sense of connection, and artists are playing an active role in that quest.”

River Gallery, a space for renewal

Located along the river, a few steps from the FCC, River Gallery has become over the past two years a quiet yet vital engine of the local art scene. Its mission: to showcase Cambodian talent — both emerging and established — while fostering dialogue with international audiences. Between group exhibitions, artist residencies, and collaborative cultural events, the gallery has established itself as a true crossroads of creativity.

The opening of HOLY on January 9 was a vivid example. The vernissage drew patrons, artists, students, and curious locals alike. Musician Will Rosas from Phnom Penh opened with a performance on the chapei dong veng, giving the evening a poetic and traditional touch before Chinese DJ Fu Gui energized the crowd with Asian electronic beats. The blend of genres — reflecting the spirit of the exhibition — captivated a public eager for authenticity and exchange.

A living, inspiring Cambodia

Beyond the beauty of the works, HOLY reveals a thriving cultural energy. Today’s Cambodia is not only about heritage — it’s about renewal. Young artists, connected to the world and aware of social challenges, are building a distinct visual language where memory, identity, and the sacred intertwine.

This contemporary creativity, still little known internationally, is gaining increasing recognition through exhibitions like this one, which remind the world of the importance of local perspectives within the global art narrative.

HOLY is therefore more than an exhibition. It is a mirror held up to a Cambodian society redefining its relationship to time, nature, and spirituality — an invitation to contemplate what endures even as everything changes, that quiet light that makes the sacred a part of everyday life.