Opening on Thursday 19 at Rosewood Phnom Penh is Tonle to Treeline, an exhibition curated by young artist Anya Minko.  Anya sat down with Kumnooh to discuss inspiration, nature, curating and things to come. 

K:  Where did the Tonlé to Treeline idea come from? 

A:  The inspiration for this exhibition came from my cycling adventures in the provinces. Tonlé is river in Khmer, treeline is the trees but also suggests the roots, spreading and connecting.  So it’s art inspired by nature, a journey from the river to the forest.  I love spending time out of the city, in the Cardamon Mountains for instance, especially riding my bicycle, and I wanted to create something that focused on the natural environment. 

I want to encourage people to go into the wilderness and explore.  Nature is so important to me, being in nature is when I’m happiest, all covered in dust and sweating, out in the world.  Cambodians often still think: oh, it’s too hot, too much dust, I want to stay inside, but I think that’s changing now, there’s more interest in camping and such, a positive development.  Cambodians also don’t seem to realise how beautiful the country is, and now it’s so much more accessible than before, with new roads it’s really easy to get to really nice spots. 

K:  How did you gather Tonlé to Treeline together?

A: I am one of the participating artists, and Rosewood offered me my first curation.  I invited two Cambodian artists to join me, each of them work in a different medium: I work in acrylics, Hom Rith is a really good watercolourist, and we have sculpture by Ouk Chimvicheat.  I like how each artist has interpreted the title.  Environmentalism – how would you paint that?  Hom Rith’s work is more of a realism approach, in watercolour.  He has painted Kulen waterfall and some other landmarks, to encourage more people to go to these places.  My work is more abstract. 

I first came across Vichet’s work when I saw his metal Kourprey sculpture at Topaz, and later I discovered more of his pieces online. Not long after, when I was the guest speaker at the Humans of Phnom Penh Colour Outside the Line competition and exhibition, I had the chance to meet him in person. I immediately asked him if he would like to be part of Tonlé to Treeline with me, and I was very happy when he said yes straight away.

For the layout I’ve mixed it up, rather than having distinct sections for individual artists, so there’s a flow.  It’s great getting to work with other Cambodian artists, and I hope this will open up to more curating – it helps that I speak Khmer.

K:  How has your work evolved since your first exhibition last year, and where do you think it’s headed? 

A:  For my first exhibition, at Sra’Art, I was more experimental.  I called it Chaotic Harmony, because my work is quite harmonious, but there’s a lot of chaos.  I’m very particular with my clean finishes and lines, even though there’s a lot of splotches and different shapes as well in there.  This time I’ve been more specific – here’s a theme, stick to it.  Then I’ll keep painting, keep making art.  I miss working on paper, the sound of coloured pencils and fine line, black ink.  So I want to do some big paper pieces.  I really enjoy doodling in my sketchbook, and I want to do that on a large scale. 

K:  Do you know where your love of painting comes from?  And did you do any formal studies in art? 

A:  I have a degree in International Relations but I didn’t formally study art, I just loved it from a very young age.  When I was maybe 12 I attended classes with an old master on St 178, since passed, who used to paint on canvases, the type of paintings that you see on the walls and ceilings of temples.  My dad organised that I could go to his shop twice a week to just paint.  I used to dread it sometimes, because I found it so repetitive, but looking back, he taught me a lot – how to just zone out and focus, technical things things like how to balance my paintbrush with my finger to control the pressure.  I’m really glad I did it even though sometimes I didn’t want to be there.  I lot comes from my dad as well – he used to doodle on everything.  When I was in third grade we had homework diaries, and at the end of every week a parent was supposed to sign it, instead my dad would do really beautiful doodles. 

Back ten years ago I was dabbling a bit, doing small commissioned pieces, opened up a t-shirt business, but then life got in the way, I was travelling a lot and studying.  I tried out a bunch of different things.   Then in February 2024 I went to the Memot fishing festival, right next to the Vietnamese border – caught fish, had a great time – then came back to Phnom Penh and bought a big canvas and went to work.  Abstract figures of fish.  I named that painting Memot, and it sold on opening night at Sra’Art.  It was that one painting that restarted it all.

By making art I get to meet and deal with such a diverse range of people – from people in the corporate sector, the public sector, education, kids.  Art takes you places.  I recently started doing art workshops with teenage survivors for an NGO.  One of the donors found me on Intagram – oh, we really like your art, could you facilitate a workshop with our girls?  So you say yes to these opportunities. 

K:  What’s next?

I hope this exhibition goes well.  I will continue to make art.  I want to look at exhibiting abroad, particularly Thailand, because I’m half Thai.  These two countries have got to get on.  I’m happy with how far I’ve come in a short amount of time.  Being an artist also makes me a businesswoman –I sell, keep track of the sales, and all of a sudden I’ve become a social media content creator because I have to self-promote.  So I wear many hats.   These are all things I learn and get better at doing, but they’re the things that someone who makes art has to do.  So I’ll paint all day and then work into the night as well.  And for this exhibition I’m curating, so coordinating two other artists as well. 

Earlier this year I had a plan to cycle through every province in Cambodia, a 40-day ride, to raise money for vegetable gardens, but had to put it off.  That’s another thing that I would like to do, because I love cycling.  I like going on adventures with friends, but I need to go on these nature trips alone as well to rejuvenate – I come back with a clear head and make more art  I have painting in this show called She Grows, one of my big ones – the face of a woman, very colourful and floral.  It’s about how powerful it feels to go into the wild, into nature, alone.  I want to cycle, I want to make art. 

Tonle to Treeline opens at Rosewood Phnom Penh on Thursday at 7.30 pm and runs to 31 May. 

Photos: supplied