Phnom Penh (Cambodia), 17/01/2008. Vann Nath, painter and survivor of the Khmer Rouge prison S-21
© John Vink / Magnum
Alone out of a handful of those who pulled through their stay in the Khmer Rouge central prison, known as Monti Santesok S-21, Vann Nath was the first survivor of the horror caused by Democratic Kampuchea to initiate a process of remembrance. When the bloody regime collapsed in 1979, he started a series of paintings showing openly and without any particular intended style, scenes of torture which he both witnessed and went through. Beyond physical elimination, the purpose of this antechamber of death was to drain its prisoners out of any remaining inch of humanity. Relentlessly, Vann Nath offers a testimony through his paintings and wishes to honour the memory of those who perished in the infamous prison by preventing this black chapter in history from being written off or forgotten by the new generations. Whatever the cost, such atrocities must not happen again. And despite being weakened by the illness, Vann Nath, now in his sixties, is not yielding and continues to denounce.
Vann Nath was detained one month in prison and suffered bad treatments before being sent to paint and sculpt in the “art section” of S-21, carefully run by its director Duch [whose trial should open soon in Phnom Penh]. There, he painted a series of portraits of Pol Pot, also known as “Brother Number One”. His past as a cinema poster and portrait painter had not gone unnoticed under the observing eye of his torturers.
Painting: a testimony
Vann Nath never thought he would come out alive of the hell of S-21 but had made the promise to himself that if he ever did, he would paint all the atrocities he witnessed and suffered, for everyone to see and know, in Cambodia as elsewhere. And he kept his promise. A few of his paintings are now hung in S-21, which was turned into the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime and constitute legitimate elements in the place of remembrance. Film director Rithy Panh, talking about Vann Nath, says “he is the first to have started the process of remembrance, against oblivion and obliteration. His early and personal testimony, particularly through his paintings commissioned by the Museum of Genocide, have allowed Nath to make this dignity his own, and has encouraged other survivors to follow the same path.”
Vann Nath tried to forget. In vain. The past always seems to grab him again and again. During the shooting of Rithy Panh's documentary “S-21, The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine” (2004), Vann Nath was brought back to the place of his suffering. Every morning, he would wake up with S-21 stood in front of his eyes. If he met one of his torturers during the day, the image of him would pursue him during the night, just as he was: the way he walked, his voice, the terror he inspired...
A much educational approach
Rithy Panh was struck by Vann Nath's paintings. To him, witnessing such precise accounts and memories do not cast the shadow of a doubt on his experience: he had been there, and knew what it was like to be in the hell of S-21.
In the foreword to the French version of Vann Nath's autobiography (see box), Rithy Panh sums up: “Nath's approach can be first and foremost defined by facts, and an educational vision. Without his pivotal testimony, Tuol Sleng Museum would simply be seen as a place of horror and death. But that type of horror is not natural. It is not about evil that surged up in a man's heart but it is more about controlled ideological horror. Nath's story is an essential piece of evidence that will help understand the Khmer Rouge killing machine. The time he spent painting portraits of Pol Pot is now over and rapidly, Vann Nath rapidly devoted his heart and paintbrushes to showing what could not be spoken.
And to Sera , a French-Cambodian comic artist, what Vann Nath does is passing on a “living” memory because it is his own. While undertaking to do this for himself, he also promotes a message to others, since “his paintings reveal visual expression that is understandable by the greater number of people”.
The artist points out the fact that to him, “Vann Nath's work makes sense and is not pure and pointless provocation. [...] His paintings show the horror that nobody wanted to see. To my knowledge, there is no photographic evidence of prisoners being brought off to Tuol Sleng [S-21] during the night. He is the only one who tried to show that reality by putting it into images, simply because he went through this hardship and expresses himself through painting. It is the only piece of evidence we have now and its authenticity is clear”.
Painting: a process of remembrance towards the dead...
In the space of thirty years, rare were the moments when Vann Nath was able to forget his painful memories and the faces of his fellow sufferers chained up in S-21. He refuses to think that their death was meaningless.
The painter confides: “Nowadays, whenever I return to Tuol Sleng, it is like being sent back in the past. Terror and dread, the emaciated faces of the ghostly prisoners, the screams of pain echoing in the prison buildings, the brutality of the guards... Everything comes back to my mind and I feel overwhelmed by these images and sounds. Around every corner, I see the ghastly faces of the detainees, desperately staring at me and wanting to shout “I beg you to help me! Please, help me!” Having survived makes me feel compelled to tell and show what happened. And I believe that those victims are still here, near me, and encourage me to paint.”
... And against oblivion
“It is my memory, and I cannot part with it. If I keep these memories all to myself, I don't feel well. I have to share them, particularly with youngsters who did not suffer this hardship, and I want to show that it is not just me but all of the inhabitants of Cambodia who have been terrified by people who were the same flesh and blood. The pain is too excruciating for us, victims. I paint because I do not want the younger generations to think that the hardships their parents put up with are mere lies and legends.
By protecting common memory, Vann Nath hopes to help the new generations in Cambodia to understand what really happened between 1975 and 1979. He deplores the fact that very few parents choose to tell their tragic story to their children, but refuses to judge them. He fully understands their choice to remain silent, caused by their fear of seeing the past reappearing when they only wish to forget it, the fear of stirring up memories that could reopen the partially healed wounds.
Vann Nath has been taking part in conferences for several years and tells his story to the youngsters. He warns: “Telling your children that the Khmer Rouge treated us like animals and that we saw kids dying of starvation and people being summarily executed is very hurtful. It is difficult to describe this regime. But if we hide the truth to the children of tomorrow, they will never know that once, their country was ruled by cruelty. If history is not known, there is a danger it could repeat itself.”
Painting: a therapy to counter the trauma
Nightmare is not a word new to Vann Nath. They keep erupting in his life and the only way he knows to counter them is to paint. To him, this means of expression is far more efficient than spoken or written words. For Vann Nath, “our memory is like a barrel. If it is too full, it will explode. If I didn't paint, I would go insane. I need to let out the pain that devours me, otherwise I lose all appetite and cannot sleep.”
Sera understand his situation too well, since he lost his Cambodian father under the Khmer Rouge regime. The artist explains: “Everyone needs to find a way of getting over the pain. Some turn to religion, others to alcohol and other derivations. His own approach is to revisit his past so as to part with it permanently. Showing the atrocities that marked his flesh and diving into his past is to me a way for him to overcome the suffering and cut the ties.”
Confronted with his torturers
Vann Nath accepted to be confronted with his torturers in Rithy Panh's documentary “S-21, the Khmer Rouge Killing Machine”. The film-maker explained: “He wanted to experience this because it was important to do so. Even though he did not want to be faced with his former torturers, he knew that talking with them was somehow an attempt to carry out the process of remembrance together.
And this is how Vann Nath found himself facing his former Khmer Rouge guard at S-21, Huy, on the set of the film. Vann Nath coldly expressed his feeling to Huy, saying that he could not forget even though he wished so. Huy replied that he did manage to forget and that he does not think about this old story any longer.
Rithy Panh, after having analysed the situation, explained: “I later understood that Nath's wish was to lead his torturer to tell the story and confess, to avoid any corruption or erasure of the facts. The process of remembrance will not be complete until the torturers take part in it. Of course, Huy finds it difficult to apologise. How can anyone admit such annihilation? He prefers locking himself up in the logic of executing orders. Nath does not want the former torturers to rot in jail but to tell the story of S-21. He needs their word to make the memory of S-21 'complete'.”
A victim's dignity
Vann Nath was rewarded for his work on remembrance and his courage to tell his story by organisations defending Human Rights, like Human Rights Watch , whose representative in Cambodia, Sara Colm, established a close friendship with the artist sixteen years ago when they first met. His work allows “the memory of 14,000 people [who died at S-21] to last. Nath acts as a spokesperson for the victims of Tuol Sleng prison, and does them justice. His story, published in 1998, is the only account ever written by a survivor of this Khmer Rouge prison”.
In the eyes of Rithy Panh, what is unique about Vann Nath is not the fact that he survived the hell of S-21 but his dignity and magnanimity, his wisdom: “Nath is a righteous person. He is someone who is honest and has ethics and morals. He hasn't been given the recognition he deserves yet, even if he does not seek it. I believe Nath embodies a certain dignity that humankind should be grateful of. He does not work for himself but in the interest of the community. Never did he feel sorry for himself, but, on the contrary, always showed generosity toward other people.”
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By Doris
By John Vink
By Doris