Vann Nath

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Painting of waterboarding at Cambodia's Tuol Sleng Prison, by former inmate Vann Nath.

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Vann Nath (b. 1946) is a Cambodian painter, artist and writer and human rights activist who is amongst a diverse group of writers from 22 countries to receive the prestigious Hellman/Hammett award which recognizes courage in the face of political persecution which he faced during the Khmer Rouge. He is the eighth Cambodian to win the award since 1995.

Vann Nath is an important painter and writer whose memoirs and paintings of his experiences in the infamous Tuol Sleng prison are a powerful and poignant testimony to the crimes of the Khmer Rouge.

Vann Nath is an outspoken advocate for justice for victims of the crimes of the Khmer Rouge and this is reflected in his writing. His 1998 memoir A Cambodian Prison Portrait: One Year in the Khmer Rouge’s S-21 Prison, about his experiences at S-21 is the only written account by a survivor of the prison. It has been translated from English into French and Swedish.

Vann Nath is one of Cambodia’s most prominent artists. Such was his artistic skill that his life was only spared by his captors so that he could be put to work painting and sculpting portraits of Pol Pot. He has played an important role in helping to revive the arts in Cambodia after decades of war and genocide.

During 2001-2002, Vann Nath worked intensively with Cambodian film director Rithy Panh in the preparation of a documentary film entitled S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine. ^[1] Vann Nath is interviewed in the film, in which Panh brought together former prisoners and guards of the former Tuol Sleng prison. With great dignity, survivor Vann Nath confronts and questions his former torturers.

Despite battling long-standing health problems, including chronic kidney disease, Vann Nath continues to paint and write about his experiences under the Pol Pot regime.