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.