Beauty and the Pigs

"We can no longer rely on the sky—only each other and ourselves" - Sreymom Kan

Beauty and the Pigs delves into the world of Samin and her sisters, Sameat and Sreymom. Potentially the last inheritors of their family’s cherished rice farming tradition, the Kan sisters and their families live in Battambang, a major rice growing province, where for generations their family has cultivated the land, harvesting not just rice but a sense of identity.

Today, the sisters stand at a crossroads as changing climate patterns, including floods, droughts, and unpredictable rainfall, have disrupted their once familiar rhythm of sowing and reaping, posing a threat to their livelihood. Added pressures of mounting debt and anxieties about an unknown future have pushed these women to seek supplementary forms of income. To try and make ends meet, they now raise pigs as livestock and run a makeshift beauty parlour part time.

The narrative mirrors the struggles echoing throughout Cambodia's rice growing regions. While rice farming remains central to the nation's economy and identity, recent unpredictable weather patterns have directly impacted traditional rice production, placing significant challenges on farmers and rural communities.

Moreover, the experience of the three sisters resonates far beyond the provincial borders, reflecting the roles of women in Cambodia's patriarchal society. They often shoulder the majority of agricultural responsibilities, including planting, weeding, and harvesting. These traditional roles as caregivers, farmers, and family pillars thus expose them to disproportionate risks from severe environmental shifts.

The series is a depiction of the sisters' lived realities and their quiet triumphs in the face of environmental obstacles. In producing this body of work, I sought to understand what it means to be a woman in these challenging circumstances.

Beauty and the Pigs is no extraordinary tale but a common one that reflects the hopes and worries of countless grandmothers, mothers, sisters, and daughters across Cambodia, and beyond. It serves as a reminder that what might seem ordinary to some is, in fact, extraordinary in its familiarity.

This body of work is intended to be part of a larger project aimed at documenting the experiences and challenges faced by women in Cambodia as they confront the impacts of climate change. The intention of the larger project is to interweave the lives of women from various regions and illustrate the collective experience of a group most vulnerable to today's climate crisis.