A creative collective shaped

The four artists who make up the Romcheik 5 collective live and work in a series of wooden huts down a dirt track on the road out of Battambang. They spend their days painting, playing football and doing their best to make sure the resident toddler – the son of one of the artists – stays out of harm’s way. It’s a tranquil way of life, and one that stands in striking juxtaposition to the artists’ past: they met in Thailand as teenagers, having been sold by their Cambodian families to traffickers in bonded labour deals. The work was backbreaking and paid almost nothing. They were also in Thailand illegally and, before any of the boys could see out their contracts, they were picked up by police and dumped back over the border. “My brain was so full of troubles,” the artist Hour Seyha says of his life at the time. “I was born into a nightmare.” Today, the men are on a very different path. Just this week, Phnom Penh’s Romeet Gallery unveiled an exhibition by Mil Chankrim – the 25-year-old’s debut solo show. Seyha, Bor Hak and Nget Champenh – the other artists who make up the collective – are also achieving a level of recognition that outstrips their tender years, including exhibiting in Paris, Toronto and New York.