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| Vann Nath (1946-2011) |
Vann Nath (1946-2011) died on September 5, 2011, basically of injuries incurred when he was interned by the Khmer Rouge in the infamous death camp, S-21. He was in that camp from January 1978 until he was released during the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia that brough an end to that regime in 1979, and he was one of only a handful of survivors of a camp that "processed" over 14,000 people. During his time in the camp he experienced and witnessed brutal torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners. Death was a daily occurrence. He survived because he was a trained artist, and the Khmer Rogue used him to paint propaganda portraits of Pol Pot, their leader.
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| One of his paintings |
Once free, it became Vann Nath's life's work to tell the story of S-21 and its victims through a long series of stark, sometimes brutally graphic paintings, which have become famous and been exhibited around the world. Some of his paintings today hang in the
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh. His family, though saddened by his death, took quiet satisfaction in knowing that he would no longer suffer from the painful memories of his imprisonment or from the ailments that dogged him since that time until he died. In his paintings, however, he will continue to give witness to the horrors of his personal experience and that of the Cambodian people under the Khmer Rogue. He will continue to remind us that the evil we face in this world is not trivial nor a joke. It is deep, rampant, and able to transform lives in horribly hurtful ways. As much as the Nazi death camps, the Soviet Gulag, or the unimaginably vast horrors of World Wars I and II, the Killing Fields of Cambodia bear testimony to the most violent century in the history of humanity, the 20th Century. And Vann Nath bears witness to the Killing Fields.
In that capacity, he mirrors for us as Christians the work of the Holy Spirit, which we believe works, works, and works to heal the wounds of even the most unspeakable evil—and calls, calls, calls us to a better way. Along the path of that better way hang the inspired paintings of Vann Nath. We pray that he rests in peace. Amen.
News postings and obituaries remembering Vann Nath include:
- Andrew Buncombe, "Peace at last for man who painted Khmer Rouge hell," (here)
- Thomas Miller & May Titthara, "Tuol Sleng survivor Vann Nath dies at 66" (here)
- Tom Fawthrop, "Vann Nath Obituary" (here)
- The Telegraph, "Obituary: Vann Nath" (here)
And a gallery of his paintings can be found (
here)
