Why does history matter? What are my questions about the Khmer Rouge Regime? How do we want to remember that chapter of Cambodia's history?
'The Year of the Hare’, a graphic novel by Tian Veasna
Tian Veasna was born in 1975, three days after the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh. His family escaped to France in 1980. When Veasna studied Decorative Arts he started to deal with his own family story. "These themes of memory, displacement, occupied me", says Veasna and created 'The Year of the Hare', a graphic novel about survival during the Khmer Rouge regime.
Students from Batch 14 of the Department of Media and Communication at the Royal University of Phnom Penh have asked questions. And found answers! It's a first step of dealing with and trying to understand the past.
What was it like during the Khmer Rouge years? How does it impact the country today? What can we learn from history so that such genocide will never happen again.
We want to tell compelling digital stories about love, fear, music and family - concepts of universal significance.
Mapping Memories Cambodia gives us the chance to connect people, especially youth, by linking stories from the past to what matters to people today.
We want to tell stories that are relevant for people who lived through the Khmer Rouge regime but also stories that are relevant to us and you – the present generation. Pathways into the past to show how it still matters today - and what it can teach us for the future.