I am khmerican

Khmerican: Anyone with a meaningful connection to both Cambodia and America.

I am Khmerican is my story and documentation of the Cambodian refugee experience from Cambodia to the United States. Starting from Nixon’s bombing campaign on Cambodia to the deportation crisis of Cambodian-Americans in the United States today, the publication illustrates a timeline of both injustice and perseverance by a community of ancient culture.

past, present, future

Before creating this book, I knew very little of my culture thanks to the pressure of “fitting in” during my childhood. As I grew up hearing stories of the Cambodian Civil War, the Khmer Rouge and Cambodian genocide from my mother, I wondered why such a violent moment in world history–the deaths of literally millions of people–was not mentioned or critically discussed in my school textbooks. Albeit I didn’t think too deeply of the issue until I started seeing Cambodians in my community struggling with forced deportation. That’s when I knew it was time for me to dig deep into the history of the Cambodian people and bring out the voices of a repeatedly silenced community.

a garment with history

The book design is based on the krama–an incredibly versatile, traditional Cambodian garment that is often used as clothing, headwraps, hammocks, baskets, and satchels. The krama has also wiped the sweat off peasants, served as stretchers for the injured, and marked the soldiers of a regime whom murdered millions of Cambodians, their own people. Unintentionally, this piece of cloth has followed the Cambodian people throughout history, and it seemed fitting that the krama drives the dialogue from start to finish.