PHUNG HUYNH

Phung Huynh was commissioned in 2024 to create the artwork for the Cambodian American Studies Model Curriculum. Huynh is a Los Angeles-based artist, mother, community advocate, and professor at California State University Los Angeles. The core of her identity and artistic practice is rooted in the Southeast Asian refugee experience. Her father survived the Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s and fled to Vietnam where Huynh and her mother were both born. Because of the American War in Vietnam, they were forced to become refugees. Huynh’s father hid 30 family members under a boat’s deck and embarked on the dangerous journey to a refugee camp in Thailand. After 8 months, they eventually resettled in the United States in 1978 and became the first major wave of Cambodians and Vietnamese to arrive. Because of her lived experience and the community that raised her, Huynh is honored to have been commissioned by the California Department of Education to create an original artwork for the Cambodian American Studies Model Curriculum.

The title of the artwork is Cambodian American, set in a familiar azure sky that casts upon the landscape of Cambodia, the United States, and around the world. What is distinctive about the background is a silver impression of Angkor Wat, the iconic and astonishing temple complex of Cambodia treasured by the world and prominently featured on Cambodia’s national flag. Expanding on the beauty, intricacy, and elegance of Khmer arts and culture is a female dancer in the foreground, alluding to Classical Cambodian dance and the graceful apsara who appears throughout the sculptural friezes and carvings of Angkor Wat and the many temple sites throughout Cambodia. The image of the dancer is modeled after celebrated Cambodian American dancer, Mea Lath who studied and rigorously trained with world-renowned Khmer dancers, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro and Charya Burt. The Khmer Rouge genocide exterminated 90% of artists, and Shapiro and Burt are two sisters who learned Classical Cambodian dance from the last surviving master dancers and are pivotal in preserving the revered art form, along with Mea Lath who teaches Classical Cambodian dance in Southern California and continues to pass on the scared tradition.

The Khmer Rouge genocide is the impetus for the Cambodian diaspora and is a major historical marker in the formation of the Cambodian American experience and identity. The midground of the artwork references the killing fields and the innocent children who were forced into reeducation and labor camps. The foreground is set up to be an altar that honors the victims and those who died during the genocide. The altar also addresses the honoring of ancestors which is a cornerstone of Cambodian cultural practice. The majority of Cambodians are Buddhists, and the pink lotus included in the artwork alludes to Buddhism as well as the transformation of suffering that is demonstrated in the journey from surviving genocide, to becoming refugees, and finally to becoming American.

The artwork is also about resilience and the celebration of Cambodian American identity. In the 1960s, Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia was known as the “Pearl of Asia” for its rich tapestry of art, culture, industry, and innovation. This namesake ushered the Golden Age of Cambodian Rock ‘n’ Roll that featured legendary musical artists such as Ros Sereysothea and Sinn Sisamouth. Cambodian American highlights this movement as well as Cambodian and Cambodian American popular culture. Children who grew up in the United States would hear the soothing vocals and swaying tunes of Ros Sereysothea and Sinn Sisamouth played on cassette tapes of their parents while they also listened to American popular music that spans Rap, Hip Hop, Rock, and Indie. The bridge between Cambodian refugee parent and American child is truly the formation of the Cambodian American experience. 

In 2018, Senate Bill (SB) 895 was signed by California Governor Jerry Brown to include Cambodian genocide studies in K-12 schools. The bill also included Vietnamese American refugee experiences and Hmong history and culture. Eventually, the passing of Assembly Bill 167 and Senate Bill 369 enacted the official inclusion of Native American Studies, Cambodian American Studies, Hmong History and Cultural Studies, and Vietnamese American Experiences Model Curricula for K-12 schools. To access free educational materials and more information about this Model Curricula, click on the link provided:

https://camodelcurricula.ucdavis.edu/