14th Edition

Director’s Note

Much has been said this year about the need for inclusion and diversity and the need for the photographic industry to examine the ethics behind the craft. These are all important issues, which will no doubt continue to gain traction in the new year. We at Angkor Photo, with our new Asian-led organising committee, welcome this momentum and intend full well to be a part of it.

Over in our part of the world, there are many who hear these cries and recognise it all too well – after all, they have been advocating for the very same cause. Some, like Shahidul Alam, have been fighting for this for decades.

In light of the unjust arrest of Shahidul Alam, as well as Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in neighbouring Myanmar, along with many others all over the world, the need for community and solidarity remains more urgent than ever.

We have to remind each other what really matters – genuine connections, honesty with the way we treat each other and ourselves, and courage to follow one’s own moral compass.

As we exist together in this digital era, with its opaque algorithms and filter bubbles feeding us a dystopic picture of our world, we cannot lose sight of one another.

I am grateful for the incredible team that has propelled us to where we are today. Their clarity, tenacious committment and love for the Asian photographic community inspires me daily and reminds me that the better angels of our nature are hard at work.

As we embark on the 14th Edition of an incredible event, I am moved to share the word of James Baldwin in his 1962 essay The Creative Process:

“The precise role of the artist, then, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.”

Jessica Lim