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Ngeth Sim
The Last Look
| Ngeth Sim studied at the Faculty of Plastic Arts of the Royal University
of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh in the late 1960s. He taught painting at the
Faculty for three years before the beginning of the Pol Pot era. In 1980,
Ngeth Sim went to the Thai border and entered the camps, where he remained
until 1983. Sent to France as a refugree, Ngeth Sim has lived and painted
in Paris ever since. "My poor father, at the moment when the Khmer Rouge led you away, I fixed on your face intently. At the bottom of my heart, a thousand thoughts clashed and overwhelmed me. I couldn't speak. I remained mute in front of them and only the tears flowed down my cheeks. I sensed that I was going to lose you and life left me at the same time that they were taking yours. I did not have the force to protest in front of these torturers, to prevent them from taking you and killing you. Today still, this memory beats against my chest and keeps me from complete happiness. When I think of it, the feeling overwhelms me that I did nothing to return the love that you had given to me. I am truly an ungrateful son. Dearly beloved father, I pray every night that your soul will pardon me." |
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