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Idol/Idle
តំណាង/ទំនេរ
I pieced together two videos that function as both parallels and stark juxtapositions. In doing so, I am mediating, investigating, and translating conversations between the past and present. The past as seen through clips of archival footage from a French documentary surveying Cambodian history and film, and the present as seen through my own lens, capturing the recreation and leisure of a Cambodian diaspora community in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA.
The left subtitles are part of the original documentary translation, while the right subtitles are back-translated from English to Khmer to English—through Google Translate, an online tool I often use to communicate with my non-English speaking parents.
2016
Image captions
Idol/Idle, 2016. Two-channel video (color, sound; 15 minutes). Installation view, Massachusetts College of Art and Design. © Sopheak Sam
Idol/Idle
តំណាង/ទំនេរ
I pieced together two videos that function as both parallels and stark juxtapositions. In doing so, I am mediating, investigating, and translating conversations between the past and present. The past as seen through clips of archival footage from a French documentary surveying Cambodian history and film, and the present as seen through my own lens, capturing the recreation and leisure of a Cambodian diaspora community in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA.
The left subtitles are part of the original documentary translation, while the right subtitles are back-translated from English to Khmer to English—through Google Translate, an online tool I often use to communicate with my non-English speaking parents.
Image captions
Idol/Idle, 2016. Two-channel video (color, sound; 15 minutes). Installation view, Massachusetts College of Art and Design. © Sopheak Sam
