Dina Thun‘s entire work is marked by the profound change experienced by the Cambodian population who, essentially rural, made a rapid movement towards the city when peace in the kingdom returned.
This hopeful change is reflected in the names given to his first two personal exhibitions: “Chrysalis” and “Flourished” (to flower, to prosper). It’s not a simple move, it’s a mutation, a transformation of life, a transition, a rebirth. And yet…
Yet in this city, symbol of modernity, hope for a better life, it is impossible not to think back to what we have left from our previous life, the simplicity of everyday life, our childhood dreams: nature remains omnipresent with the evocation of a flower, a bird, a body of water, but it is a nature-memory, a nature-nostalgia. In the city, nature appeals to memory. Wanting to perpetuate a rural way of life in the city is illusory. Traditional activities, such as fishing, have no place there. These are again memories that Dina Thun calls upon.
Dina Thun remembers how the prospect of living in the capital filled him with hope, like all those who wanted to leave their countryside to go to the city : the promise of success, work, happiness… It is these hopes, these dreams which are materialized by the aura of light and color enveloping the heads of his characters.
