Exhibition Promotes Khmer Arts in Fantasy World
Sam Daro, a freelance digital artist, has his first solo exhibition, “LEGENDS”, an original story featuring Khmer history, culture and art set in a fantasy world, at Villa Gallery. Photo: Rin Ousa
- By Rin Ousa
- April 19, 2024 7:10 PM
PHNOM PENH – Sam Daro, a freelance digital artist, has his first solo exhibition, “LEGENDS”, an original story featuring Khmer history, culture and art set in a fantasy world, at Villa Gallery.
Daro said LEGENDS is the second volume of the Nakrak comic. Volume one was published in 2021 as an 81-page graphic novel. Daro is also planning to publish the second volume into a book.
He said it discovers the origin of Nakrak by saying who created Nakrak and what was the exact timeline of the story in Khmer history.
“Nakrak are the holy warriors who serve the Khmer empire,” he said.
However, he said the storytelling was inspired by his personal experience, his friends' stories and other fantasy movies he had been watching since a young age.
“The second volume is quite complicated as I have no basic knowledge about Khmer shadow theaters and designs on the walls of the temples,” Daro said.
“My interest in promoting Khmer designs, history and culture never vanishes despite a number of difficulties in researching references and resources of those Khmer designs particularly when it comes to the Angkor era.
“I have been working on these for three years until the exhibition could finally take place.”
Daro said that those who are interested in Nakrak comics can spend time visiting the exhibition as the storytelling lasts around three minutes.
To make the storytelling more innovative and lively, Daro has used augmented reality to make the characters more creative.
However, audiences should bring their phones and earphones to the exhibition and scan each art piece by using the Artivive app.
“Audiences can immediately listen to the narrative storytelling of LEGENDS in English with Khmer subtitles once they scan the art piece,” Daro said.
“There are 22 art pieces in the exhibition. Although it is the second volume of the Nakrak comic, audiences can still fully understand the story once they finish the scan.
“In addition, there are two sculptures in the exhibition called Silver Preah Vajara and Gold Preah Vajara. Those who have already finished listening to the storytelling will understand what those two sculptures are used for in the story,” he said.
Motivation Arises Amid Criticism
Originally from Phnom Penh, Daro has had a keen interest in drawings, playing video games and watching anime and fantasy movies since a young age.
He graduated from SETEC Institute in Interior Design and has been working in the field of digital art, digital content and filming entertainment for more than 10 years.
He has made many illustrations and graphics inspired by fantasy and Khmer art.
He recalled the first time he embarked on this journey as a digital artist.
“I had received much criticism about my drawings and designs at first as I used Khmer styles into animated characters,” he said.
“At first, I could not endure those criticisms and I argued with them on social media. Later on, people started to recognize my works as I continuously draw and design more works.
“I did not see many people in this field before as they might be afraid of criticism. Yet there are more young people interested in contemporary art now,” he said.
Daro said that Narak comics is his passion project but he could not earn much from composing or exhibiting.
“What I do comes from my pure heart and I am glad to see both national and international audiences enjoy watching my exhibition of LEGENDS.”
The exhibition, which started in February, runs until April 26 and it is open to the public from 10am to 5pm daily except Mondays.
