SOPHEAK SAM

work         NEWS       bio         CV
b. 1989, Khao-I-Dang, Thailand
Lives and works in Lowell and Boston, MA



Education

2025        MFA, Visual Arts, Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Ithaca, NY
2022        Post-baccalaureate, Studio Art, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2018        BFA, Studio for Interrelated Media, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
2017        Painting and Printmaking, the Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK

Solo Exhibition

2025        I Miss You More Than I Remember You (MFA Thesis), Tjaden Gallery, Cornell, Ithaca, NY 
2024        You Are From My Past Life (curated by Achariyar Rojanapirom), Kalm Village, Chiang Mai, Thailand
2024        i love the way you see the world but why can’t you see me?, Experimental Gallery, Cornell, Ithaca, NY
2022        Waiting for Enlightenment (curated by Shane Levi), Distillery Gallery, Boston, MA

Select Group Exhibitions

2026        We hold these truths…American Stories, Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, Gloucester, MA (forthcoming)
2026        SALON/STYLE (curated by Elina Ansary), Peach Pit Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (forthcoming)
2025        Body’s First Architecture (curated by Leeza Meksin and Tamar Ettun), Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT
2025        Even the Phrase Each Other, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY 
2025        Proleung Khmer, Lowell Community Health Center, Lowell, MA 
2025        Willful Dialects (curated by Yi Cynthia Chen), No Call No Show Gallery, Boston, MA 
2024        Pchum Ben for Palestine, FT Gallery, Factory Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2024        The Future is Not Binary (curated by Brett Taylor), Denison Museum, Granville, OH
2024        Surviving Together (curated by Sunny Moxin Chen), A.P.E. Gallery, Northampton, MA 
2024        Freedom of Expression, Hartell Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 
2023        over and over, Experimental Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 
2022        (RE)CONNECT: 6th Biennial Juried Alumni Exhibition, Frances Euphemia Thompson Gallery, MassArt, Boston, MA
2022        Connections II (curated by Beckah Jean Marsh), Fowler-Kellogg Art Center, Chautauqua, NY 
2022        Out of Service, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2021        Sutures (curated by Suriya Sam-Khuth), Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN 
2020        if we want it (collaboration with Melissa Q. Teng), Art on the Marquee, Boston CyberArts, Boston, MA 
2018        Free Form (juried by Ben S. Wallace), Gallery 263, Cambridge, MA
2018        Space (curated by Savanna Nelson), North Crackatorium Gallery, Boston, MA
2018        Perpetual Collapse, Godine Family Gallery, Boston, MA
2017        Contact List, Glasgow School of Art, Grace and Clark Fyfe Gallery, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, UK
2017        Sent From a Pure Moment, Godine Family Gallery, Boston, MA
2017        Brujas in Boston: Board Auction, Godine Family Gallery, MassArt, Boston, MA
2017        (in)visibility: a queer artist collective, Godine Family Gallery, MassArt, Boston, MA
2016        Process Is (curated by Marissa Cote and Jackiie Holliday), Student Life Gallery, MassArt, Boston, MA
2016        You Think It’s ____, But It’s Really ____. (curated by Allison Maria Rodriguez), Midway Gallery, Boston, MA
2016        Congratulations! You have a new Match! (curated by Ellen Formby, Craig Waddell), North Crackatorium Gallery, MassArt, Boston, MA

Awards / Grants / Fellowships

2026        Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant, Boston, MA
2026        Professional Development Fellowship in Visual Arts, Honorable Mention, College Art Association, New York, NY
2025        Boston Artadia Award, Artadia, Brooklyn, NY
2024–25 Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship in Khmer, Academic Year, U.S. Department of Education, Washington D.C.
2024        Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship in Khmer, Summer, U.S. Department of Education, Washington D.C.
2024        International Research Travel Grant, Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
2024        Helen Swank Research Fellowship, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
2024        Cornell Council for the Arts Grant, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
2023        John Hartell Graduate Award for Art, Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Ithaca, NY
2022–23 U.S. Fulbright Research Grant, Thailand, U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Washington D.C.
2018        Barbara Grad Auction Award, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
2017        Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Washington D.C.
2017        Morton R. Godine Travel Fellowship, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
2017        Rob Moore Grant in Painting, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA

Residencies

2026          Studios at MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA, Full Tuition Scholarship (forthcoming)
2024          SLOWSPACE Artist Residency, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2022–23  Visiting Fellow in the Department of Media, Arts & Design, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
2022          Chautauqua School of Art, Chautauqua, NY, Partial Scholarship

Curatorial Projects

2025        hissssssss: Serpents and Social Imaginings, Peach Pit Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2019        You must not stand in one place (co-curated with Melissa Teng), Distillery Gallery, Boston, MA
2018        Homecoming, Godine Family Gallery, Boston, MA
2018        In a Domestic Partnership (It's Complicated), How's Howard?, Boston, MA