GritTV with Laura Flanders

I was invited out to do a segment of Laura Flander's GritTV program—my second appearance, but the first during which I did not threaten to commit suicide if John McCain, whose Republican National Committee nomination acceptance speech I was punditing at the time, won the presidency. She asked about the connections between girls' rights in Cambodia and Unmarketable, and you can see the whole thing here.

Don't Shoot the Messenger

Don't Shoot the Messenger from Anne Elizabeth Moore on Vimeo.

Don't Shoot the Messenger is a 4:30 min documentary on Cambodian garment factory workers and their advocates, The Messenger Band, the first political band in the history of the country.

The video is a correlary to my recent Truthout piece "Report from Cambodia's Garment Factories" as well as this interview with The Messenger Band, also for Truthout. Watch the YouTube version here, if you prefer.

Q&A with Leang Seckon [on Truthout]

Leang Seckon, one of Cambodia's foremost contemporary artists, will see his first European solo exhibition, The Heavy Skirt, opening March 31 at London's Rossi & Rossi gallery. Unlike depictions of his homeland that you might come across in the US, Seckon's work presents a rich and complex view of Cambodia, involving elements of performance, collage, painting and illustration. But it can be confusing, like speaking with the artist himself.

"A problem is me, not perfect English," Seckon tells me when I turn on my tape recorder.

But I disagree: The problem is how rarely we take the time to listen.

And Seckon's work is worthy of a close listen. He calls himself a freedom artist and this is no slight pronouncement. Born during Nixon's secret bombing of his homeland, he grew up against the background sound of civil war, spent adolescence under the Khmer Rouge and watched his country's subsequent occupation by the Vietnamese fade into a damaging UN presence and the country's first violent, but democratic elections. His work, whatever the medium, is autobiographical. His freedom and his country's have been hard earned. But neither is complete and Seckon does not shy away from describing the limits to Cambodia's freedom of expression. Yet he clearly loves his homeland.

"Will you leave the country if the show is successful?" I ask him. His answer is firm.

"Stay in Cambodia," he says.

After all, he honed his skills at Phnom Penh's Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA), taking two Bachelor's degrees in place of the BFA and MFA he might have pursued were the Cambodian higher education system not struggling to catch up to his artistic vision. After finishing school, he held exhibitions throughout Phnom Penh, with group and solo shows at emerging galleries in the city and exhibitions in nearby tourist centers like Phuket, Thailand and Siem Reap, Cambodia. He quickly made the leap to international cities with established art scenes like Fukuoka, Japan and Hong Kong. Back home, his work has been endorsed by two kings.

Still, his first solo exhibition in Europe is a significant milestone for the accomplished Cambodian artist. He gave me a preview in his studio on the doomedBoeung Kak Lake in Phnom Penh. Read the rest here.

Poise.cc Honors Genocide Awareness Month

My friend and long-time supporter Cinnamon Cooper here in Chicago has selected the Harpswell Foundation as the recipient of their April fundraising program. It's pretty simple: Cinnamon gives $20 from each handmade bag to the org, and her employer matches it. Meanwhile, over at the Harpswell Foundation, a matching grant from the Jay Pritzker Foundation will match that.

Poise.cc's online shop is here. You can also read Cinnamon's blog post about the program, but since you have the chance to donate $80 by buying a really cute, handmade $50 tote, you should probably just go to the shop.