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S-21 prison   »      «»

I was awed by both ancient and recent history during my travels through Cambodia. At the famous temples of Angkor Wat, Ta Promh has largely been left to the ravages of nature. At 6am, unmolested by busloads of tourists, the light- dappled beauty of this site is awesome. Once parasitic trees, growing up and through the walls in a twisted, knotty embrace, now create a symbiotic grace throughout the buildings: one cannot survive without the other's support. During the ruling of the Polpot regime, the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh kept detailed records of its detainees. The prison has since been converted into a holocaust museum where the walls are lined with the photographs of its prisoners. What I found incredible was that the outside world reflected upon the glass which encased the photographs. With freedom reflecting across their faces, and the reflection also obscured by bars, the effect was eerie. The subject's gaze, which, at the time, looked into the lens of a jailer, instead peers past us; freedom, just a window's view away.