Linda Sok
About | Linda Sok is a Cambodian-Australian artist focused on investigating the culturally and personally significant period, the Khmer Rouge Regime, which forced her family to flee Cambodia. Her practice navigates the complexities of the trauma embedded in the Cambodian diaspora and aims to shift its legacy from one focused on genocide to one of healing.
Q&A
What are your earliest memories of being artistic? I was probably around 8 years old. Painting with watercolors in my living room, and then trying to sell them to my sisters for 5 cents!
When did art become a pursuit? I actually completed a degree in Science before pursuing a degree in Fine Art. I think art really truly became a pursuit after I saw other people making work about their own identities. Until then, it was never something that crossed my mind, that I could make work about my own cultural identity. It was really valuable to see other POCs making space for their own experiences, because it showed me that it was something worth exploring.
Are you self-taught or formally educated in visual art? I completed a Fine Art degree in Australia.
How did you first become involved with CAA? I first became involved with CAA at the beginning of this year, when I moved into Cambridge from Australia and was trying navigate my way around this new art landscape. CAA provided me with a Scholarship and access to their membership program which allowed me to access so many different things like juried shows and portfolio reviews.
In what other ways are you involved in the local art community? I am currently one of the studio artists at Washington Street Art Centre, which has a great community of artists.
What role do you think the artist plays in society? I think that art plays a much bigger role in peoples lives than they think. Art works to challenge people’s perceptions and ideas, to educate, and to create empathy.
What medium do you currently work in and how did you choose this medium? The medium and materials I work with vary greatly depending on conceptual underpinning of the work, but I have recently been working with silk, salt, mosquito nets, gold leaf, discarded fabrics, collected rainwater, and metal. Currently, I am exploring the historical and cultural significance of Cambodian silk and looking into its artistic applications.
What is your creative process? Where are you finding ideas for your art these days? Like my materials, my creative process changes quite a bit. I get drawn to certain materials, and I find myself gravitating towards textures that are tactile, where you can see a handmade quality to them. Even though my work is quite conceptual, it actually starts with what materials I find interesting and engaging. I think there is also some unknowable energy that some materials hold and that my subconscious is drawn towards, and I find out later that they are connected to my personal history or my family’s history in one way or another. The conceptual side seem to flow from there. I also love reading about art, and buying art books. Reading about other people’s thought processes is always inspiring.
How do you choose your subject matter? Is there a reoccurring theme that carries throughout your work? A lot of my work centers around the Khmer Rouge. With careful considerations for cultural objects, rituals, traditions and their materiality, my practice often manifests in sculptural installations. By accessing fragments of my family’s traumatic past, I attempt to recontextualize lost traditions and culture to allow living descendants to process the traumatic history experienced by older generations.
What is one of your artistic goals? To learn how to weave with silk. I feel that it is where my practice is currently headed, I just have to find the money to buy a proper loom!
What’s your favorite place to see art, and why? One of my favorite spaces to see art is New Museum in New York. It’s a fantastic space with super experimental works, and it is located right next to Chinatown so I always make sure to grab some Yum Cha when I’m in town.
Do you have any shows coming up? I have a number of shows coming up in Australia, and a couple here in Cambridge and Boston as well. I’ve got work in the CAA National prize Show, and Krik? Krak! which is hosted by Creatives of Color Boston.
See more from Linda
Website: www.linda-sok.com
Instagram: @lendasock