“Corneliu Miklosi” Public Transport Museum

MONOLOGUE

In MONOLOGUE, the narrator addresses his sister whom he’s never met. They’ve never spoken to each other, never smiled at each other, he doesn’t know the sound of her voice. He only holds a photograph of her and a map of a plot of land in Cambodia, drawn by his father. It is there, beneath this unmarked spot that his sister, a victim during the Khmer Rouge, is known to have been buried. The personal plea of the narrator takes the form of collective mourning. Another five thousand people are believed to have been buried in the same spot. The confession of the narrator, his internal turmoil contrasts with the tranquillity and stillness of the landscape. We notice people ploughing the land, an indication that the site turned into a rice field. A bearer of history, the landscape acknowledges the artist, has its own flows and processes. Human and non-human worlds intertwine in a complex, often incomprehensible way. 

With a background in photojournalism, Rattana’s work has been driven by the concern to document untold stories from his historic and cultural context. MONOLOGUE alongside Bomb Ponds (2009) and Funeral (2018) is part of a trilogy of films that capture the lasting effects of Cambodia’s recent past. AR