បុប្ផាបី (Three Flowers)

In the serene tourist town of Siem Reap, Cambodia, I met Sokpheak, Davina, and Yav. Three Khmer women of varying ages living vastly different lives, bound together by the quiet thread of a shared transgender identity.

"...all I looked for was the beauty and the tenderness. The people I photographed...were my friends and I thought they were the most beautiful people in the world."

...អ្វីដែលខ្ញុំតាមរកគឺ ភាពស្រស់ស្អាត និងភាពទន់ភ្លន់។ មនុស្សដែលខ្ញុំថតរូបឲ្យ...សុទ្ធតែជាមិត្តខ្ញុំ ហើយខ្ញុំគិតថាពួកគាត់ជាមនុស្សស្រស្អាតបំផុតនៅក្នុងលោកនេះ៕

Nan Goldin

I crossed paths with Sokpheak entirely by chance while wandering aimlessly through the streets of Siem Reap. She was bent over a trash pile, collecting plastic bottles to sell for a few riel. At 40, she carried the weariness of her years, yet her kindness remained profound. I asked if she would show me around the city, and in return I promised to take her to dinner. That night, she wore her best dress—her only outfit for an evening out—and moved with quiet, unassuming dignity.

Davina, 27, performs every night as a drag queen at Barcode Siem Reap, where she wears glamour like armor. When we first met, she hugged me without hesitation. We clicked instantly and shared jokes and laughter. Her warmth was as striking as her confidence.

Yav, 22, is a university student, young and ambitious, navigating a future full of hope. I asked if I could visit her home in a village outside the city. We rode out past the noise and nighttime traffic until the paved streets gave way to dirt roads and open fields. Out there, everything felt softer and slower, something deeply familiar. We talked for a long time. I told her she represents the future for trans women in Cambodia.

Three women, three lives, three flowers, separate but connected through the shared experience of transness, each opening in its own light yet rooted in the same soil, all reaching for a brighter tomorrow.

In a world that denies trans women’s existence and identity, we must rely on one another for survival and support. As a transgender woman, this ongoing project—photographing trans women across Southeast Asia, beginning in Siem Reap—is for my fellow trans women who have shown me care, tenderness, and belonging.

Through both staged and candid portraits, I want to portray my sisters as they truly are, imperfect yet luminous and undeniably alive. These images do not conclude with the moment they were made; they carry forward traces of rawness and tenderness. Even after attention drifts, even after the moment passes, the presence of these women persists. Because even in darkness, flowers continue to bloom.