Svay Sareth’s works in sculpture, installation and durational performance are made using materials and processes intentionally associated with war – metals, uniforms, camouflage and actions requiring great endurance. While his critical and cathartic practice is rooted in an autobiography of war and resistance, he refuses both historical particularity and voyeurism on violence. Rather, his works traverse both present and historical moments, drawing on processes of survival and adventure, and ideas of power and futility. More recently, Svay confronts the idea that “the present is also a dangerous time” through the appropriation and dramatization of public monuments that hint at contentious political histories.
Svay Sareth was born in 1972 in Battambang, Cambodia during a period of political turmoil and violence that would last until he was 18 years old. Svay began making art as a young teenager in the Site 2 refugee camp, near the Thai-Cambodian border. He describes life as a refugee as “a void nationality…a time and place you imagine escaping from.” Drawing and painting became a daily activity for Svay – a process of bearing witness to the psychological and physical violence that was an everyday experience, as well as a way to symbolically escape and dream of change. After the wars ended, Svay went on to co-found Phare Ponlue Selepak, a non-governmental organization and art school in Battambang that continues to thrive today. In 2002, the artist continued his studies in France, earning the Diplôme National Supérieur d’Études des Arts Plastiques / MFA in 2009, after which he returned to Siem Reap to live and work.


Beyond Sunflower
Svay Sareth
2018
Single-channel video
Duration 2 min 55 sec
Edition of 3

Yell & Silent
Svay Sareth
2018
Cotton, silk and kapok
Variable dimension

I Vote
Sareth Svay
2018
Catton, kapok, iron
133 x 22 x 22 cm
Svay Sareth – Wings of Throne
1 - 23 April 2022
Richard Koh Fine Art,
Blk 47 Malan Road,
#01-26 Gillman Barracks,
Singapore 109444
Open on Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 7pm
Closed on Sundays, Mondays & public holidays
Svay Sareth – The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10)
4 December 2021 - 25 April 2022
Queensland Art Gallery
Gallery of Modern Art
(QAGOMA)
Stanley Place, South Brisbane
Queensland 4101, Australia
Daily, 10am - 5pm
Faris Nakamura, Minstrel Kuik, Natee Utarit & Svay Sareth – As We Were (Selections from the Michelangelo & Lourdes Samson Collection)
16 September - 17 October 2021
Artspace@Helutrans
#01-05 Tanjong Pagar Distripark
39 Keppel Road
Singapore 089065
1 - 7pm, Tuesday - Sunday
Closed on Mondays
Free Admission
The Possibility of an Island: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia
3 November - 11 December 2020
Pavillion Gallery
Cromwell Place, London
Presented by Arndt Art Agency (A3)
Wednesday - Saturday, 10am - 6pm
Sunday, 12 - 4pm
Svay Sareth – The Breath of Change
5 - 20 July 2019
Richard Koh Fine Art,
Blk 47 Malan Road,
01-26 Gillman Barracks,
Singapore 109444
Tue - Sat, 11am - 7pm
Art Basel Hong Kong 2022
27 - 29 May 2022
Booth 1D29, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre
1 Harbour Road, Wan Chai,
Hong Kong, China
Private View (by invitation only)
Wednesday - Thursday, 25 - 26 May 2022
Vernissage
Friday, 27 May 2022
Public Days,
Saturday - Sunday, 28 - 29 May 2022