Batia Sarem sets up various temporary exhibitions a year with Khmer artists among the most recognized on the international scene. We also provide a catalogue to illustrate each of our exhibitions.
Batia Sarem sets up various temporary exhibitions a year with Khmer artists among the most recognized on the international scene.

CHOV THEANLY
Theanly Chov was born in the Battambang Province of Cambodia in 1985. He has worked in Phnom Penh as a graphic designer then he moved to Battambang in 2011 to focus on his artistic work. The artist has been living in Phnom Penh since 2018 to settle in a bigger place to paint.
His paintings have been exhibited on many occasions. Indeed, he has several solo shows in Java Art gallery in Phnom Penh (the latest in November 2016). Theanly also exhibited in the US and in Singapore. Besides, Chov has been one of the leading artists of two major group shows: Phnom-Penh at the Musée de l’Hospice-Comtesse in Lille, France (September 2015 – January 2016) and Cambodia: Looking back at the Future at the Flinn Gallery in Greenwich, United States in May-June 2017. Later, Theanly had a solo show at Galerie Lee in Paris in October 2017. His paintings are part of major collections such as the one of the Cambodian artist Sopheap Picand of the Sunpride Foundation based in Hong Kong.
Chov Theanly born 1985, Battambang, Cambodia / Lives and works in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019
- The Rise, Batia Sarem Gallery, Siem Reap, Cambodia 2017 Surviving, Lee Gallery, Paris, France
2016
- Striving, Java Art, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2015
- Questioning, UtterlyArt,Singapore
2013
- Surviving, Java Art, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017
- Flinn Gallery, Connecticut, USA
2015
- Renaissance, Euro-Metropolis Museum, Lille, France
2014
- Roots and Branches, Long Beach, California, USA
- Made in Battambang, French Institute, Phnom Penh, Battambang, Cambodia
2012
- Forrest Crime, Maek Make, Battambang, Cambodia.
- Sammaki Fundraiser, Sammaki, Battambang, Cambodia
- Cambodian Mask Project, Plantation, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- Urban Ties, Our City Festival, Battambang, Cambodia
2011
-
Angkor Art Expo, Art Daily, Siem Reap, Cambodia
RESIDENCY
2015
- Vermont Studio Center and Triangle art, New York City, USA
EDUCATION
2011
- Bachelor Degree of Law at Chamroen Poly Technology University, Phnom Penh
2004-2007
-
Graphic Design at Vocational Training Center of Battambang

SOVAN PHILONG
Biography
Philong was born 1986 in Prek Dach (Kandal Province in Cambodia). He graduated in Information technologies at the National University of Management of Phnom Penh in 2005. The young artist discovered photography while working for a Catholic association as a manager of the video department and met the photographer Mak Remissa. The latter helped him understanding photography. He began, in 2009, as a press photographer for The Phnom Penh Post then with the Xinhua News Agency in 2011-2012.
Besides covering the news, Philong developed several personal projects. Especially those with «Studio Images» of the French Cultural Center that were exhibited during the festival Photo Phnom Penh. Afterwards, he participated as an intern in two workshops proposed by the Angkor Photo Festival in Siem Reap in 2008. Then, the photographer studied one year in France with the support of a grant of French government in 2012 at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Louis Lumière.
A recognized talent
His works have been published in GLOBE magazine (Cambodia), Le Monde Magazine (France), Internazionale (Italy), Missions Étrangères (Canada). Report Without Border (France), De L’air (France), L’Express Styles (France), L’Oeil (France), Revue Noire (France) also published his work. In addition, Philong appeared in IMAGES Magazine (France), PUNCTUM (India) and AZART (France). Sovan Philong has been a member of Asia Motion since 2011. What is more, he is an active stakeholder of the Photo Phnom Penh Festival.
Philong’s work has been exhibited in Cambodia (Phnom Penh Photo festival in 2009, 2010 and 2013). Then in France (Biennale Photoquai of Musée du quai Branly in 2011, Friche la Belle de Mai in Marseille, 2019). Followed by United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Recently, he worked with Galerie Lee in Paris, where he had a solo exhibition in 2018. In 2019, he was awarded the Grand Prize of Wonder Foto Day, a photography fair taking place once a year in Taipei. Sovan Philong is currently working and living in Phnom Penh.

KHVAY SAMNANG
Biography
Khvay Samnang was born in 1982 in Svay Rieng, Cambodia. He graduated from the Painting Department at the Royal University of Fine Art in Phnom Penh, where he lives and works today. Khvay’s multidisciplinary practice offers new views on historic and current events as well as on traditional cultural rituals using humorous symbolic gestures. In his work, which includes all media, he focuses on the humanitarian and ecological impacts of colonialism and globalization.
The development of each body of work is based on thorough research and investigation of local specificities, structures and conditions. Traveling is a crucial tool for his practice. Engaging directly and personally with local communities – within and beyond the cultural scene – is an integral part of his work, which makes it highly relevant, critical and connectable to various contemporary discourses. His work shows a remarkable ability to engage with cultural and geographic contexts as well as with spatial and institutional settings.
A recognized artist
Khvay Samnang is among the most promising up-and-coming international artists. Indeed, his outstanding artistic significance is proven by his prestigious exhibition and grant portfolio.
The artist’s solo exhibitions include:
• Capsule 10: Khvay Samnang, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2019);
• Where is my land?, Sa Sa Art Projects, Phnom Penh (2017);
• Bloom Projects Exchange Series, Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara, USA (2016);
• The Pacific Project: Khvay Samnang, Orange County Museum of Art, CA, USA;
• Footprints of Yantra Man, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany,
• Enjoy My Sand, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan;
• Rubber Man, Jeu de Paume, Paris, CAPC Bordeaux, France (2015);
• Human Nature, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Singapore (2014);
• Newspaper Man, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh (2012).
His group exhibitions include:
• Bruised Art Action and Ecology in Asia, RMIT Gallery, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia; Borderlines, Talbot Rice Gallery, The University of Edinburgh, UK; Documenting Change: Our Climate (Past, Present, Future, CU Art Museum, The University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado, USA (2019);
• Post Nature (Taipei Biennial 2018), Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan;
• Constructing Mythologies, Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong;
• Animals & Us, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK;
• Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (2018);
• Fleeting Territories, Kunstraum Niederosterreich, Vienna, Austria; DOCUMENTA 14, Athens, Greece / Kassel, Germany;
• People, Money, Ghosts, Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok (2017);
• Future Nature, Jack Hanley Gallery, NYC, USA;
But also…
• Phnom Penh, Rescures Archaeology, The Body and the Lens in the City,
• Fragments Empire: Cambodian Art from the Angkor Period, John Young Museum of Art, University of Hawaii,
• Manoa and Shifting Geographies, Bophanna Audiovisual Resource Center, Phnom Penh (2016),
• Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT), Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia;
• Globale: Global Control and Censorship, ZKM | Center of Art an Media, Karlsruhe, Germany (2015);
• A Time For Dreams, IV Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (2014),
• If The World Changed, 4th Singapore Biennale (2014),
• Sights and Sounds: Global Video Art, The Jewish Museum, New York, USA (2013),
• Phnom Penh: Rescue Archaeology, ifa, Berlin and Stuttgart, Germany, and Poetic Politic, Kadist Foundation, San Francisco, USA (2012).
Parallel activities
Khvay Samnang is a founding member of Stiev Selapak, an art collective dedicated to reappraising and remembering Cambodian history and exploring continuities in visual practices disrupted by civil war and the Khmer Rouge regime. In 2010/11, Stiev Selapak set up two nonprofit art spaces in Phnom Penh: Sa Sa Art Projects, for experimental residencies, knowledge-sharing, and community-based programs; and SA SA BASSAC, a gallery, resource center, and reading room. In addition, he teaches Contemporary Art Class to emerging Cambodian artists under the program of Sa Sa Art Projects.
Later in 2016 the artist was nominated for the Future Generation Art Prize, Ukraine, in 2015 he was nominated for Prix Pictet Prize; AIGA AGO Photography Prize Long List, Canada; the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Hong Kong; and Prudential Eye Awards Best Emerging Artist in Asia Using Photography, Singapore. Khvay Samnang was a grant holder, in 2014-15, of KfW Stiftung for the 12-month programme ‘Artists in Residence’ in collaboration with Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin. Finally, he was invited by KfW Stiftung, in 2017, as an alumnus to participate in a think tank with the world-renowned dancer and choreographer Akram Khan.

SVAY SARETH
Svay Sareth was born in 1972 in Battambang, Cambodia during a period of political turmoil that would last until he was 18 years
old. The artist began making art as a young teenager in the Site 2 refugee camp, near the Thai-Cambodian border. After the wars ended, Svay went on to co-found Phare Ponlue Selepak, a non-governmental organization and art school in Battambang that continues to thrive today. In 2002, the artist continued his studies in France, earning the Diplôme National Supérieur d’Études des Arts Plastiques / MFA in 2009, after which he returned to Siem Reap to live and work.
Solo exhibitions
Sareth’s solo exhibitions include:
• I, Svay Sareth, am eating rubber sandals (2015) and Traffic Circle (2012) both SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
• Select group exhibitions include Shapeshifting: Contemporary Art From Southeast Asia, Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong (2016);
• Global Control and Censorship, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany;
• After Utopia, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore;
• Gods, Heroes and Clowns: Performance and Narrative in South and Southeast Asian Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia;
• Secret Archipelago, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (all 2015).
• 4th Singapore Biennale,
• Trader and Tradition, ARNDT, Berlin, Germany;
• Mirror and Monitor of Democracy in Asia, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, South Korea (2014).
• In 2013, he was artist in residence, Season of Cambodia, with Lower Manhattan Cultural Council at Governors Island and presented about his practice at MoMA, NYC.
His work is collected by the Singapore Art Museum and National Gallery of Victoria.
Svay Sareth born 1972, Battambang, Cambodia / Lives and works in Siem Reap, Cambodia
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2015
- I, Svay Sareth, eat rubber sandals. SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2013
- Churning, World Financial Center, NYC, USA
2012
- The Traffic Circle, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2011
- Tuesday, Hotel de la Paix Arts Lounge, Siem Reap, Cambodia
2010
- La Terre Ferme, French Cultural Centre, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018
- Superposition: Equilibrium & Engagement, 21st Biennale of Sydney, Australia,
- MAIM Museum Bang kok Thailand , Biennale of Gwangju Soth Korea
2017
- Le paysage après coup, Centre d’art contemporain Faux Mouvement, Metz, France
2016
- Phnom Penh, Rescue Archaeology, The Body and the Lens in the City in Fragments & Empire: Cambodian Art from the Angkor Period, John Young Museum of Art, University of Hawaii, Manoa, USA Shapeshifting: Contemporary Art From Southeast Asia, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong Prudential Eye Awards Finalist Exhibition, Art Science Museum, Singapore
2015
- Weaving The Asian Democracy, Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea
- The Second China-ASEAN Biennale, China
- Global Control and Censorship, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany
- I, Svay Sareth, eat rubber sandals, Asia Now, Paris, France
- After Utopia, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
- Gods, Heroes and Clowns: Performance and Narrative in South and Southeast Asian Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
- Secret Archipelago, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
- Eagles Fly, Sheeps Flock: Southeast Asia Plaform, Art Stage Singapore, Singapore
2014
- Traitor and Tradition, ARNDT, Berlin
- The Mirror and Monitor of Democracy in Asia, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju
- Phnom Penh Rescue Archaeology: The Body and the Lens in the City, Goldsmiths University of London for SEA Fest, UK
- Looking at the Big Blue Sky, Meta House, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- Phnom Penh Rescue Archaeology: The Body, The Lens, The City, The Disappearance, Center for Contemporary Art, Singapore
- Our City Festival 2014, FCC, Siem Reap, Cambodia
- Rescue Archaeology: The Body and the Lens in the City, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2013
- If The World Changed, 4th Singapore Biennale, Singapore
- Phnom Penh: Rescue Archaeology / Contemporary Art and Urban Change in Cambodia / ifa, Berlin and Stuttgart, Germany
- Merging Metaphors / Indo-ASEAN traveling exhibition India, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam
2012
- new artefacts, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- Mon Boulet, French Institute, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- 20 x 1, French Institute, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2009
- OFF/ON, L’Usine Utopik à Tessy sur Vire, France
2008
- Voir Après, Galerie L’Hôtel, Caen, France
ARTIST TALKS / WORKSHOPS/ RESIDENCIES / NOMINATIONS
2017
- Artist Talk, Conference of the exhibition Le paysage après coup, Centre d’art contemporain Faux Mouvement, Metz, France
2016
- Award Winner, Prudential Eye Award Best Emerging Artist Using Sculpture and Overall Best Emerging Artist in 2016
2015
- Nominee, Joseph Balestier Award for the Freedom of Art, Singapore
2014
- Artist in Residence, Center for Khmer Studies, Siem Reap, Cambodia
2013
- Artist in Residence, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council at Governor’s Island / IN RESIDENCE, Season of Cambodia, NYC
- Artist Talk, Art Asia Archive in America, NYC
- Artist Talk, In Conversation with Leeza Ahmady, Contemporary Art in Cambodia: A Historical Inquiry, Modern Museum of Art, NYC
2012
- Artist Talk, Merging Metaphors, Indo-ASEAN Artist Residency, Darjeeling, India
2011
- Artist Talk, Enter the Stream at the Turn: Performance Art in Cambodia and Southeast Asia, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh
2009
- Nominee, ABD Signature Art Prize, Singapore
EDUCATION
2009
- MFA / Diplôme National Supérieur d’Etude des Arts Plastiques, avec felicitations, Caen, France
2007
- BA Fine Art / L’école Régional Supérieur des Beaux-Arts de Caen, France
2004
- Certificate, Fine Art / L’école des Beaux-Arts de Beauvais, France
COLLECTIONS
Singapore Art Museum
National Gallery of Victoria
MAIIAM

YIM MALINE
Yim Maline was born in Battambang, Cambodia in 1982. She stud ied at the Art school Phare Ponleu Selpak (located in Battambang) and graduated at Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-arts of Caen in France. Maline had several solo shows at the Gallery Sa Sa Bassac
of Phnom Penh and recent ly at the Galerie Lee in Paris in 2017. The artist was included in several group exhibitions, including in the Yavuz Gallery in Singapore in 2015 then in the United-States and in France. She was invited for artists’ residencies in the United States in 2012 and 2015, in Andorra and South Africa in 2016 and recently in Japan in 2017. Yim Maline currently lives and works in Siem Reap.
Yim Maline est née en 1982 à Battambang, Cambodge. Elle est diplômée de l’école d’art Phare Ponleu Selpak (située à Battambang). En outre, l’artiste est titulaire d’une licence de l’École Supérieure des Beaux-arts de Caen. Elle a présenté plusieurs solo show à la galerie Sa Sa Bassac de Phnom Penh et récemment à la Galerie Lee à Paris en 2017. Puis, Maline a fait partie de plusieurs expositions de groupe, notamment à la Yavuz Gallery de Singapour en 2015 puis aux États-Unis et en France. De plus, elle a effectué des résidences d’artistes aux États-Unis en 2012 et 2015, en Andorre et en Afrique du Sud en 2016, et récemment au Japon en 2017. Elle vit et travaille actuellement à Siem Reap.
B A T I A S A R E M G A L L E R Y | Bamboo Street, Wat Damnak, Sala Kamreuk | Siem Reap, Kingdom of Cambodia
Contemporary Art Gallery Cambodia
Batia Sarem sets up various temporary exhibitions a year with Khmer artists among the most recognized on the international scene.