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Ahp

Aishwarya Arumbakkam

"It was a cloudy day when I ran into a strange, beautiful woman in the countryside of Cambodia. Everyone referred to her as Ahp. No one seemed to know where she came from. Ever since she appeared, more and more mysterious things seem to be happening.”

"It was a cloudy day when I ran into a strange, beautiful woman in the countryside of Cambodia. Everyone referred to her as Ahp. No one seemed to know where she came from. Ever since she appeared, more and more mysterious things seem to be happening.”

Ahp is a spiritual female character popular in Cambodian folklore and imagination. With the character of Ahp as a protagonist, this work explores the relationship between themes of horror and women, with particular relevance to Cambodia.

In Cambodia, horror is woven into the country. The Khmer Rouge regime led to massive violence, resulting in genocide and repatriation. Even before that, historically, Cambodia has been a theatre for war due to constant invasions by more powerful neighbouring kingdoms. It was during one of these invasions that the character of Ahp, a beautiful woman cursed to wander unfulfilled, was born. Since then there have been several local versions of the Ahp. Passed on orally, these stories adapt and modify themselves to specific regions and times. The common thread in all these stories is the Ahp’s position as the beautiful, forbidden and feared ‘other’.

As a recurring idea in the community’s mythical and psychological landscape, Ahp can be seen as a manifestation of a country’s violent history and the resulting psychological trauma.

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Bio
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
© Aishwarya Arumbakkam
Untitled, Ahp2016, Bakong, Cambodia
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Aishwarya Arumbakkam

Aishwarya Arumbakkam

India

I’m a photographer and filmmaker. My primary areas of interest are mythology, cultural narratives, portraiture and bookmaking.

My engagement with Visual Arts started with Design and Filmmaking, which I studied at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs, Paris. This was followed by Photography, which I studied at Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, Dhaka.

I was part of the ‘12th Angkor Photo Festival and Workshops’ in 2016, and ‘South Asian Incubator I’ at Photo Kathmandu in 2018. I was awarded the ‘TOTO-Tasveer Emerging Photographer of the year’ award in 2018. My project ‘ka Dingiei’ is a recipient of ‘The Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Grant for Photography, 2019’.

I’m working on ongoing projects based in India and Bangladesh.

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Close Menu Exhibition Home Main Menu
  • Villa Argentina
    Arunà Canevascini
  • Tabriz To Shiraz
    Sarah Pannell
  • Visible Darkness
    Shuwei Liu
  • Halfstory Halflife
    Raymond Meeks
  • The Splitting of the Chrysalis and the Slow Unfolding of the Wings
    Yorgos Yatromanolakis
  • Jasper
    Matthew Genitempo
  • Slant
    Aaron Schuman
  • The Outsider
    John Feely
  • Proceed To The Route
    Tania Franco Klein
  • Home/Home
    Wouter Van de Voorde
  • Valparaiso
    Francesco Merlini

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