KHUAMMAK

Khuaamhak explores three different ways of questioning Lao culture.

At once a photo essay and an intimate journal, it examines the idea of dual culture: how traditions and religious ceremonies integrate into a Western world, as well as the unique connection between Lao people and the significance of religion.

But beyond all that, this book is a testament to the love I have for my culture, expressed through the members of my family and my country. Khuaamhak, or “the soul that loves.”

01.

Where does my heart come from?

Thesis / Diploma
2021

This first series was developed during my thesis, in my final year of DNMADE (National Diploma in Art and Design) in 2022. It marked a time in my life when I believed I fully understood my origins. Theoretical and anthropological research helped me put words to the education my Lao family and community had given me. I realized how much I was reproducing the behaviors of my elders in my own life.

The photographic series “Where Does My Heart Come From“ is a diptych-based photo project highlighting three different generations of Lao women.

It reveals how each of them carries her culture within a Western setting, and how younger generations preserve and project this culture into their lives.

03.

50 yo for Mama

Photo Essay
2023

To follow the continuity of the first part, the images focus on gestures, objects, and ceremonial moments.

The relationship between elders and younger generations plays a major role in the transmission of these gestures. Here, the dual movement between observation and imitation becomes far more significant than words.

It is also a moment that brings everyone together, whether through prayer or the sharing of traditional food.

03.

Khuammak (*the soul that loves)

Photo Essay
2024

During 2024, I had the opportunity to accompany the association Pour Sourire, based in Strasbourg. The team made up of prosthetists, dentists, and orthodontists, provides dental care each year in various countries (Senegal, Mongolia, Nepal, Laos…). This was their second time visiting the village of Ban Na Teui, a remote village in the Savanakhet region.

This series shifts between documenting the dental care provided to the villagers and capturing the way I rediscovered the local way of life through their surroundings and gestures.

04.

Grandpa’s Journal

Archive & Research
2025

My grandfather used to write all day long. He wrote about everything that happened: his thoughts, how his day unfolded, descriptions of certain objects, and the memories he had of his homeland, the war, or his arrival in France. The drawings are those of my brother and me when we were children.