Cambodia: Daily Life and Diaspora. Now showing at APCC's Jade Choe Gallery.

APCC
3 hours ago
3 min read

Showing November 2nd through December 20th, 2025

Artist Reception: On November 22 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., the artists will be in attendance, giving talks. Light refreshments will be served.

Life pulses through the art of Ranou Ye and Nak Bou, now based in the Pacific Northwest, and Morn Chear in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

This generation of young artists embodies the vitality of lived experience, navigating personal histories shaped by Cambodia and the Cambodian diaspora in the United States.

Ye and Morn express their narratives through block printing, while Bou’s paintings and drawings merge memory and migration, reflecting the complexity of refugee experience and the enduring strength born from a war-torn past.

Ranou Ye (b. 2005, Svay Rieng Province, Cambodia)

Now a Tacoma resident, Ranou Ye’s early years were spent in his home village in rural eastern Cambodia (Svay Rieng Province). There, he worked alongside his family, subsistence rice farmers and learned from his father, a Khmer Rouge genocide survivor and veteran. As a teen, he became involved with artist collective, Open Studio Cambodia in Siem Reap, near the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. His art practice has been cultivated over a lifetime, primarily focused on block print, drawing, and silk screen printing. Through his evocative compositions, he shares his life stories, his interest in Cambodia’s wildlife, indigenous people, and his nostalgia for the traditional village way of life.

Morn Chear (b. 1991, Kampot, Cambodia)

Chear is a successful, multitalented visual and performing artist. He is an accomplished contemporary dancer, singer and visual artist proficient in illustration, painting, drawing, and printmaking. His work often depicts scenes from his everyday life before and after an electrical shock accident cost him both of his arms in his early 20s.

He is a graduate of Epic Arts program and a former professional contemporary dancer. He and his wife relocated in 2019 to Siem Reap where he is pursuing his art career through Open Studio Cambodia.

Kann ‘Nak’ Bou

My name is Kann ‘Nak’ Bou, I’m a multidisciplinary artist based in Renton, Washington. With a B.A. in Design | Media Arts from UCLA, I explore the intersections of mark-making and cultural narrative through a wide range of mediums. Recently, I had a solo exhibition held at Gallery 4Culture through May 1–May 29, 2025. The paintings I exhibited were inspired by memories of my father’s water shop in Fresno, CA during the early 2000s, and other small businesses in the area. I also reference Khmer hand painted signs, film posters, VHS and international design from the 1950s-90s.

My practice is rooted in mark-making and drawing, with inspiration from hand-painted signs and storefronts I've encountered during my travels to India, Cambodia, and beyond. My compositions are largely improvised, created using a variety of media, including brushes, Montana spray cans, oil pastels, pens, watercolor, and airbrush.

In April 2024, I was commissioned by Nite Yun, chef and owner of Nyum Bai, to create a mural for her highly anticipated restaurant, Lunette, which was featured on Netflix’s Chef’s Table: Noodles. Additionally, Nite commissioned me to provide illustrations for her cookbook ‘My Cambodia’ published by 4 Color Books, an imprint of Bryant Terry, Ten Speed Press, and Penguin Random House.