The Ministry of Culture Teaches Youths how to Make Lakhon Khol Masks
The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts has launched a mask-making course for young members of the Lakhon Khol Wat Svay Andet dance group to initiate them to this ancestral Khmer artform. Photo: Ministry of Cultures
- By Ou Sokmean
- October 22, 2023 7:25 PM
PHNOM PENH — The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts has launched a mask-making course for young members of the Lakhon Khol Wat Svay Andet dance group to initiate them to this ancestral Khmer artform.
The training takes place on Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 21 at the Svay Andet pagoda, which is located in Lvea Em district’s Sarika Keo commune in Kandal province.
According to Siyyon Sophearith, spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, the students in the class are already enrolled in the lakhon khol dance class. “We want to teach them how to fix or make the masks in addition to performing,” he said. “After this course, we plan to teach them how to embroider the clothes.”
More than 10-to-15 year-old boys have enrolled in the course, Sophearith said. He added that all participants should be attentive and really try to learn as a way to pay tribute to the older generations who made sacrifices to preserve this heritage.
Sophearith said that he and the trainer have seen great potential among the participants and saw that they can learn fast and have the talent to make these masks.
“Such an understanding and love from these children about making lacquer masks is very important in our training,” he said. “I see that at least 50 percent of those kids can understand how to make masks.”
“After this, we will expand their skills because these skills can be used to make a living,” he added
According to Sophearith, the five trainers from the ministry’s Department of Visual Arts and Crafts are taking part in this session with support from the elders overseeing the theater and the local authorities.
Sophearith called on the parents to encourage their children, and in this case also girls, to attend the mask workshop.
The Lakhon Khol Wat Svay Andet was inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2018 at the UNESCO meeting in Mauritius.
Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this article was translated by Torn Chanritheara for Cambodianess.
