Narath Tan
Narath Tan (born c. 1962), is a Cambodian sculptor and artist working in Chicago.
Early life
His early life on the outskirts of Phnom Penh during the Khmer Rouge were plagued by tragedy and horror.[1] His father disappeared in the early 1970s and was believed to have been killed. In starving conditions his aunt and uncle both died of disease. Tan was assigned different jobs at different times: planting rice, clearing forests, digging canals, building dikes. On one occasion he was among a group of people assigned to move a house to a new work site. Rather than disassemble the simple bamboo-and-thatch structure so that it could be loaded onto a truck or oxcarts, the cadre ordered the workers to slide poles below the floor, then lift the entire building and carry it to its new location almost 30 miles away.
In 1978, following Khmer Rouge tension with Vietnam, Tan, who had been living in nearby Prey Veng province, was sent away to Pursat, in the west of the country. Three of Tan's cousins were killed there when they complained about the lack of food and one of Tan's brothers, weakened by malnutrition, was executed when he was unable to complete the work he had been assigned. By the end of 1978, the Khmer Rouge was near an end and Tan was able to return to Phnom Penh, and when the School of Fine Arts of Cambodia reopened in early 1980, he enrolled to study sculpture.[2]
Education and emigration
Tan enjoyed school once classes began in earnest, and he soon found that he could make extra money by selling his art work. Small "monkey heads", miniature papier-mache replicas of masks worn by Khmer dancers could bring 100 riel, about enough money to buy two small chickens.
In 1984, after befriending a man who was active in the resistance against the Vietnamese, Tan was accused by government officials of sympathizing with the guerrillas, and he was threatened with arrest unless he informed on his friend. Instead, he decided to flee to Thailand after confronting his mother. With another friend from the art school, he forged a travel pass and made his way across the Thai-Cambodian border to Nong Samet Refugee Camp. Nong Samet however was controlled by the Khmer People's National Liberation Front, one of the two noncommunist factions fighting the Phnom Penh government, and a short time later, Tan managed to escape to Khao-I-Dang camp, which was administered by the United Nations. At Khao-I-Dang, Tan was interviewed by U.S. Immigration officials, and finally in 1988 he was granted political asylum in the U.S.
Life in America and artistic career
In Chicago, living in suburban Wood Dale Tan acquired a job as an electronics assembler was able to pursue his artistic career and set up a studio, provided by the Cambodian Association of Illinois of which he is now a member of the Board.[3] Tan met his wife, Noi Maliab, another of the estimated 2000 Cambodians living in the city and it is here that his son was born.
Most of Tan's works are traditional. His trademark charcoal paintings are inspired by carvings from Khmer temples and are made by carving a form in clay. The form is moistened with water, and a sheet of paper is carefully pressed down until the paper follows the contours of the carving. Next, the raised areas of the paper are painted black. In Cambodia, the black coloring was usually derived from soot collected from an oily fire; but Tan now uses paint or ink.[2]
While most of Tan's work will always be done in the traditional styles of Khmer art, he has expressed an admiration for Western techniques and is keen to mix Cambodian and American styles.
Much of Tan's work has been featured in local galleries in Chicago.