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Teru Kuwayama |
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CAMBODIA'S LOST BOYZ |
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Photographs on display May 18 - July 5 |
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A period of war, genocide and dislocation haunts the lives of Cambodian Americans. Documentary photographer Teru Kuwayama and journalist Corey Takahashi chronicle the struggles of young men for whom Southeast Asian history is freshly revisited reality. Their project focuses on themes of international exile: Last summer in Phnom Penh, Kuwayama and Takahashi met former refugees who'd escaped Cambodia's killing fields as infants and children only to be deported back to the nation as adults. These men grew up in the American ghetto and sought status, protection and identity in street gangs. As legally admitted refugees, they never thought trouble with the law could get them returned to a nation still reeling from the mass murders of the Khmer Rouge. A new chapter opened after September 11, 2001, with a changed U.S. policy on Cambodian repatriation. Today, guys like Panther, Puppet and Playboy -- ex-gang members who've served their American prison terms and are aging out of the "thug life" -- face a lifetime away from children, families and friends, deported to a Cambodia they'd long forgotten. Culturally American but non-U.S. citizens by birth, these twice-uprooted ex-pats embody the slippery nature of modern citizenship, the paradox of "home," and the unpredictable yet long-lasting effects of violence in a young man's life. |
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Biographies: Teru Kuwayama was born in New York . Over the past ten years he has traveled and photographed extensively in Asia and the Middle East. Previous reportages include the Tibetan refugee diaspora, high altitude glacier warfare in Kashmir, post war Afghanistan, and the occupation of Iraq. He works in color and black and white, using film and digital, video, panoramic, and toy cameras. His work has appeared in magazines such as Time, Life, Newsweek, Fortune, National Geographic, Outside, Doubletake, and Vibe. Awards include grants from the Alexia Foundation for World Peace, and The New York Foundation for the Arts, and citations from Communication Arts, PDN, and the Overseas Press Club. He currently lives in Brooklyn. Teru is represented for assignment and stock work by Corbis. |
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Corey Takahashi is a New York City-based freelance journalist, contributing to regional and national publications. He writes frequently on urban culture, the international art scene, hip-hop, pop, and the social and cultural dimensions of immigration and globalization. Takahashi has been a feature writer at Newsday, a correspondent at Entertainment Weekly, an editor at Vibe, and a founding editor at Blaze. His reporting has taken him throughout North America, Europe and Asia, and his stories have appeared in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times to the ethnic and immigrant press. Takahashi's awards include fellowships from the Independent Press Association, the Knight Foundation and the National Press Foundation. |
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This event is curated by Michelle Jackson |
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Previous exhibitions at The Half King For further information on these exhibits, please go here.
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