Cambodian artist Sopheap Pich is presenting an exhibition at Meta House in Phnom Penh that reveals his creative process, showing how he conceives sculptures from initial drawings and woodblock prints to works in bamboo and metal. Born in Battambang, Pich survived the Khmer Rouge regime as a child and later immigrated to the U.S., earning an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before returning to Cambodia in 2002. The exhibition includes early rattan pieces and recent metal sculptures, reflecting his intuitive, memory-infused approach to making art with a team of ten assistants in his Phnom Penh studio.
This exhibition matters because it offers rare insight into the working methods of one of Southeast Asia's most internationally recognized contemporary artists. Pich was the first Southeast Asian artist to have a solo show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and his work is held by major institutions including the Centre Pompidou, SFMOMA, M+ Hong Kong, and the Mori Art Museum. By demystifying his process, the show underscores how personal history, trauma, and place converge in his practice, while also highlighting Cambodia's growing presence in the global contemporary art scene.