SM Art Center is our dream-born from war, shaped for peace.
After surviving genocide and years in a refugee camp, I dreamed of giving back through art. I learned to write with my finger in the forest and later discovered art through Véronique Decrop. Maline, born in 1982, grew up during the civil war; we lived under the same shadow of conflict. Together, we founded SM Art Center, a place to grow, heal, and share. Brick by brick, tree by tree, we built a garden for creativity. We believe art is a bridge to peace, a dialogue without violence, and a responsibility to serve the world.
SVAY Sareth
Founder
BIOGRAPHY
Svay Sareth (born 1972, Battambang, Cambodia / lives and works Siem Reap) holds a Diplôme National Supérieur d’Études des Arts Plastiques, University of Caen, Normandy (2009). Notable group exhibitions include 10th Asia Pacific Triennial, Biennale of Sydney, Gwangju Biennale, and Singapore Biennale. He won the Prudential Eye Award’s Best Emerging Artist Award in 2016. As a co-founder of Phare Ponleu Selepak (1994) and co-founded with Yim Maline of Blue Art Center(2018), Svay Sareth’s multidisciplinary practice is rooted in an autobiography of resistance. As a child survivor of genocide in Cambodia and former refugee on the Thai-Cambodian border until young adulthood, Sareth believes personal and collective memory and its formation as official history require constant confrontation in the ongoing present. Tempering strength with futility and survival with adventure, Sareth’s work is layered and complex with desires for freedom and catharsis. Using his body as a medium to question order and authority, Sareth’s durational performance practice is public and interventional by nature, requiring high levels of physical and mental endurance.
For Mon Boulet (2011), meaning “my burden”, Sareth journeyed six days, pulling a cumbersome, two-meter-wide, 80-kilogram reflective metal sphere 250 kilometers from the ancient to present-day capital of Cambodia, carrying with him a few basic amenities associated with refugee migrations worldwide. In his highly-crafted, ongoing soft-sculpture series, Ruins, camouflaged and cartoonish figures are carefully sewn into different roles. While some are monumental in scale and challenge Buddhist moral teaching, others pile on the floor referencing looted Khmer stone statuary, and others, like the installation Yell and Silent (2018), are autobiographical. The readymade is also a significant part of Sareth’s practice. Stake or Skewer combines seventeen black rubber sandals on a bamboo carrying pole, symbolic of the number of years he spent in labor and refugee camps. For a corresponding work, Eat (both 2015), the artist programmed a scrolling LED sign in red font the seventeen words for “eat” in Khmer language based on historical and hierarchical connections between class, education, and rights of speech.
By Reaksmey Yean
Collections
• Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
• Private Collector
• MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum
• SM Art Center
• QAGOMA
A great Legacy Southeast Asia
Cambodia
Awards Winner
2016 – Prudential Eye Awards, Singapore
In 2016, Cambodian artist Svay Sareth was honored with two major awards at the Prudential Eye Awards for Contemporary Asian Art, held at the Sands Theatre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
• Best Emerging Artist in Sculpture
This award recognized Svay Sareth’s unique approach to sculpture and his ability to convey profound social and political themes through three-dimensional forms.
• Best Emerging Artist (Overall)
His award-winning installation, “Warning House,” constructed from found materials, exemplifies his talent for transforming everyday objects into powerful works of art that reflect Cambodia’s turbulent history and the resilience of its people.
Solo Exhibitions
2022
Wings of Throne, Richard Koh Fine Art, Art Warehouse, Bangkok, Thailand
2019
The Breath of Change, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore
2018
Beyond Sunflower (video still) 2018 / Single-channel video: 2:55 minutes, colour, sound, 16:9 / © and courtesy Svay Sareth
2015
I, Svay Sareth, eat rubber sandals, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2013
Churning, World Financial Center, New York, USA
2012
Traffic Circle, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2011
Tuesday, Hôtel de la Paix Arts Lounge, Siem Reap, Cambodia
2010
La Terre Ferme, Centre Culturel Français, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Group Exhibitions
2024
Everyday Practices, Singapore Art Museum, Tanjong Pagar Distripark, Singapore
2022
Asia: Bitter and Sweet, Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea
2021–2022
The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10), QAGOMA, Brisbane, Australia
2020
The Possibility of an Island, Cromwell Place, London, UK
2018
21st Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, Australia
2018
Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea
2016
Prudential Eye Awards Finalist Exhibition, ArtScience Museum, Singapore
2016
Shapeshifting: Contemporary Art From Southeast Asia, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong
2016
Rescue Archaeology: The Body and the Lens in the City, John Young Museum of Art, University of Hawaii, Manoa, USA
2015
After Utopia, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2015
Gods, Heroes and Clowns, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
2015
Secret Archipelago, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2014
Traitor and Tradition, ARNDT, Berlin, Germany
2014
The Mirror and Monitor of Democracy in Asia, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, South Korea
2013
If The World Changed, 4th Singapore Biennale, Singapore
2012
new artefacts, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2012
Mon Boulet, Institut Français, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
International Journey & Dialogue
YIM Maline
Founder
“The scars of war and the fragility of life have shaped my memories and my art. Growing up in a country ravaged by conflict, I find myself drawn to the unseen impacts of trauma on people and nature. Through my work, I explore the tension between destruction and regeneration, using discarded materials to reflect both resilience and decay. I hope my art challenges perceptions, evokes introspection, and serves as a testament to the delicate balance between growth and loss in the human experience.”
Yim Maline
BIOGRAPHY
Yim Maline’s artworks. From her meticulous graphite-on- paper drawings to her bold sculptures, her conceptual foundations have been a processing of memories specific to her childhood growing up amidst civil war in Cambodia, and a means to consider the complex effects of this period on the natural environment and individual and societal structures of today. Yim’s ambitious and skillful use of materials challenges our perception, while an inherent vein of uncertainty and tension challenges our comfort.
Born in Battambang in 1982, Maline is an alumna of Phare Ponleu Selpak art school (1995-2003) and holds a BFA in Fine Art from the École Supérieure des Beaux-arts de Caen la Mer, France (2010). Her solo exhibitions include “Having a Hole or empty space inside” at SA SA BASSAC (2015) and “Silk Threads” at Insider Gallery, InterContinental Hotel, Phnom Penh (2012).Yim Maline is a Cambodian artist whose dynamic practice encompasses meticulous graphite drawings and impactful sculptures. Her conceptual foundations stem from a profound engagement with the memories of her childhood during the post-genocide Cambodian civil war. This personal history serves as a catalyst to explore the enduring and complex repercussions of this period on the natural environment, individual lives, and societal structures. Maline’s ambitious and skillful manipulation of materials provokes critical reflection, while an underlying sense of tension anduncertainty challenges conventional perspectives.She has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including “Futurographies: Cambodia – USA – Paris” and “And that which was always known” at Yavuz Gallery, Singapore (2015). Maline has also undertaken residencies in Japan (2017), Jose Arts Lab, Johannesburg, South Africa (2016), Vermont Studio Center, VT, USA (2015), and Bose Pacia Transparent Studio, NYC (2013) as part of Season ofCambodia’s IN RESIDENCE program.
By Reaksmey Yean
Collections
- Department World Bank Washington BC
- Private Collector
- SM Art Center
- The Malagola, Italy
Residencies
• 2016: Jose Arts Lab, Johannesburg, South Africa.
• 2015: Vermont Studio Center, Vermont, USA.
• 2013: Bose Pacia Transparent Studio, NYC, USA – as part of Season of Cambodia’s IN RESIDENCE program.
Solo Exhibitions
2019 The Shadow of Change, Richart Koh Fine Art, Singapore, The Shadow of Change II, Tree Line Gallery, Siem Reap, Out of line, Akar Prakas Gallery, Kolkata,
India.
2023
Silence is Golden, Richard Koh Fine Art, Bangkok, Thailand
2019
Remembering, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2017
Decomposition 2016, University of Wyoming Art Museum
2016
Absence, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2014
Dream, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2013
Remember, The East gallery : Contemporary Asian Art, Toronto, Canada
2012
No Name, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Silk Threads, The Insider Gallery, Intercontinental Hotel, Phnom Penh,
2011
Remember, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2007
Cultural Center, Caen, France
2006
Chateau de Beauregard, France
Group Exhibitions
2025
The 10th Biennial Beijing, Singapore Art Fair We are S.E.A., Thailand Biennial
Phuket, Reconstructing the past & the present: SNA art management Phnom Penh.
2024
The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, QAGOMA. ART Singapore, “Angkor Complex: Cultural Heritage and Post-Genocide Memory in Cambodia” 03 February – 28 July 2024 at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
2023
All That Surrounds Us, New Art from Cmbodia Sydney, Australia, Vatical Art
Exhibition: Sa Sa at Raintree, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
2022
Silent Narratives, RK Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2020
Garden of Earthly Delights, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2019
Home Lost and Found, Batia Sarem Gallery, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Tracing Abstraction within contemporary Art Cambodia, Akar Prakar Delhi India, Female Form, RK Fine Art, Bangkok, Thailand.
2018
Weaving Histories, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Women and Their World, National Museum of Singapore, Singapore.
2017
Cambodia: Looking back on the future, Finn Gallery, CT, USA
Le Paysage Après Coup, Metz, France
Naebono S-AIS, Hokkaido, Sapporo, Japan.
2016
ASIA NOW Paris Asian Art Fair with SA SA BASSAC, Paris, France.
”Era Rossell” UNESCO Art Camp, Andorra, Myth-Making, ISCP, New York, USA, Futurographies: Cambodia – USA – France, New York, Phnom Penh, Paris.
2015
And That Which Was Always Known, Yavuz Gallery, Singapore.
2014
Made in Battambang, French Institute, Cambodia.
2012
Dom-naer Thmey (New Journey), Cambodian Living Arts, Phnom Penh,
Cambodia Seven, Hotel de la Paix Arts Lounge, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Anniversary, French Institute, Phnom Penh, Cambodia La Galerie, Lux et Art de Livre, Canadia Tower, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Salon of Creators, No Problem Mansion, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
2011
Eight Women, French Cultural Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Salon du Creatures, No Problem Mansion, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Between / Myanmar-Cambodia, Metahouse, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 2008 École Supérieure des Beaux-arts de Caen, France.
International Journey & Dialogue
