“I encourage people to love art” a quote from Panha, a 13-year-old girl was sitting on the bright-comfortable-blue sofa, where she could expose her creativity by saying so. She was born in Kampong Thom province, Cambodia and was selected as a Liger Leadership Academy student because of her potential embedding with her side. Her hobby is precious and valuable to her, revealing her talents which she could never discover. Many people perceive art is a complicated subject, although Panha considers the opposite.
In this whole year, she has been drawing lots of pieces, knowing there’s no constraint to waylay her from her hard-working work. She loves her art pieces and her expectation for people to do so. But what inspires her and why?
The stage of letting the art comes through
Don’t be afraid to love art, just because it’s a challenging skill requirement. Panha before was not interested in art either. One day, she was sitting in the car, seeing the beautiful aspects of shops and buildings. When the car passed by a glamor, she focused on it and now she knew it has been her inspiration. she captured the picture in her brain and felt it deep in her heart. It was a stunning wedding dress, displaying in front of the shop. She can feel the beauty of the dress was spreading inside the car. Therefore, she decided to ask herself this question, “What is it like to be a designer?” She determined to herself that she wanted to make something even more beautiful than that.
A great experience of discovering other types of art
To own a meaningful answer, she started to welcome art to enter her life, slowly and slowly. Panha said, “ I do model design a lot, draw those stuff, so let draw other stuff too.” She exposed her smile and hugged the pillow on her lap, such a joyful view. Furthermore, art also helps her to define who she is, what she wants to be in the future, and what she likes. Therefore, she dedicates her time to her artwork.
The emotion within the artwork
Art has the ability to alter her emotions from sadness to enjoyment. Thus, her passion for art will present there while sadness may be arriving at any time. Moreover, she said, “My mom wanted me to be a lawyer. No one have I tell that I love art. My mom told me my art is good. I don’t know [the answer] when she asked me “what is your future dream job?” Panha turned her face to her left gesture, glancing at the transparent glass while peacefully release a small laughing voice. Despite the love and practices, she also can feel the failure a lot of time. As she mentioned, people have different tastes in every particular field. When she found out that her artwork is not quite matched with her goal, she would feel desperate. As such, she gives up on her artwork for a few days. However, because art is what she passionate about the most, it probably would appear into her mind back, to think of it. I asked her, “What is the most successful part of your artwork?” She said, “Art is her lesson of life, it is what she needs to improve on.” Her facial expression was filled with determination and fondness.
“Art is not relaxing”, I never knew that
I asked Panha this question, “Does art truly boost our feeling of relaxation?” and the answer was unpredicted. The answer I got from her was, “ Doing art is very stressful. When it’s good, it makes you happy. Not relax doing art.” Her face was looking straight at me, so she could awake the memory of herself while drawing. She then continued, “When it turns out good, feel proud. Coloring makes me feel relaxed, but drawing is not really.” Her eyes opened wide as she finished talking, like trying to get my attention toward her.
For Panha, “Art is the core of her happiness and is what takes up space in her heart.”
Written by Cheatra Chheang Interviewing with the art topic