I chose this week’s research post to be about the Cambodian American contemporary artist Sopheap Pich. Towards the end of the Khmer Rouge’s reign in Cambodia, Sopheap Pich and his family fled the country and eventually immigrated to the United States. In the desire to reconnect with his childhood memories and experiences, Pich went back to the country in 2002. His sculptural practice is sculpted by the experiences he endured from the Vietnamese invasion and having to witness all of the devastations that come with war. Sourcing materials from rattan and bamboo as well as other indigenous sources, Pich creates three-dimensional objects which poetically simulate reconstruction. Pich’s art is the embodiment of his memories, culture, and place through both their medium and form. Rattan and bamboo are integral to everyday life in rural Southeast Asia, and the techniques that Pich uses to interweave the material are derived from Cambodia’s craft tradition.