KEEPING IT KHMER: CAMBODIAN RESPONSE TO SIAMESE PRACTICES OF STATE CONSOLIDATION THROUGH MURAL PAINTING

Abstract

My thesis explores cross-border interactions through the transfer of aesthetic influences in temple mural painting within colonial Southeast Asia. Through the study of Siamese influences seen in Cambodian mural paintings, my paper showcases how art has been a medium for the Siamese polity to exercise colonial-inspired practices of state consolidation in Cambodia at a time when sovereign borders in Southeast Asia were being redefined. The study of temple mural art allows us to better understand the geopolitical changes that were happening in Cambodia at the particular time as these changes were visually expressed through changing art styles. Discussions of the state of traditional art in modern Cambodia highlights the complex ways in which history, politics and art allowed Cambodians to create visual representations of their national identity through temple murals. By situating Cambodian mural paintings within a political and historical background, my thesis serves as a medium to study Cambodian agency, response and resistance against foreign political, and hence, cultural influences.