Thanks to Adana Mam-Legros and Gisel Studio for their generous donation to CSH

Adana Mam-Legros surrounded by our team members, Lengcheng Vy, Christele Dupiellet, Juliette Morin and Alexandra Bazin

After sharing her experience with our students during a conference, the French-Khmer artist and activist Adana Mam-Legros made a precious donation to Chandara Students' Homes by selling a piece of art during her "I'll show you who I am" exhibition. Orkun chran!

"Art is not an end in itself, but a means to share my messages", confides Adana Mam-Legros, activist who uses art as a medium to empower individuals and communities. We are grateful to her for supporting our students, by donating to Chandara Students' Homes the entire funds from the sale of a piece of art from the last exhibition she curated. It is within the walls of the FT Gallery located in the Factory Phnom Penh, a high place of creation and innovation, that the artist was able to spread her ideas, expose her works and raise funds for 3 local NGOs including ours, Raksa Koma Foundation (RKF) and Samakithoar, from September 17th to 19th 2021.

Her mixed-media exhibition "I'll show you who I am" was indeed a way to highlight the invisible pressure women face in their daily life, but also to create a powerful campaign to advocate women's rights in collaboration with the local creative studio Gisel. Together, they reinterpreted the quote "When men are oppressed it’s a tragedy, when women are oppressed it’s tradition” by staging in a series of videos three iconic Khmer women: Lomorkesor "Kesorrr" Rithy, Chumvan "Belle" Sodhachivy and Sam Tharoth, respectively singer, traditionnal dancer and martial art fighter. It was also the opportunity to give voice and visibility to self-taught female artists like Phailin Cadiot, whose art is based on her own experience dealing with depression, Ma R. Daneth, whose art focuses on the beauty of Khmer culture, and a Khmer poetess, Choeurn Kim Heng.

Adana Mam-Legros already inspired our students during a conference following the #ChooseToChallenge campaign for International Women's Day 2021, during which she shared her experience as a survivor of a cancer, how she healed herself with painting, and the artistic movement she founded, Generation C Cambodia. The latter's aim? To shift consumers to global citizens, to raise awareness by using activist art and advocacy, while spreading the “Convivialist” philosophy in the world, which promotes a new social, moral, and ethical art of living together. This is definitely inspiring!