• Samnang combines craft, dance, photography and film in his creative practice
• He learned mask making from the Chong community with whom he lived for one year
• His masks are woven from forest vines traditionally destined to making fishing traps

In 2016, Samnang Khvay spent a year living alongside Cambodia's Indigenous Chong communities. What began as an open-ended period of learning has evolved into an ongoing body of work shaped by their knowledge of the rainforest, its materials and its stories. "The stories already exist," he says. "I simply try to give them a body." The Chong taught Samnang how to gather wild forest vines and weave them to create fishing traps using techniques passed down through generations. Equally influential were their oral traditions, in which animals, spirits and humans share the same living landscape. Since then, Samnang has returned regularly to continue this collaboration, transforming inherited craftsmanship into woven masks that come alive through dance, choreography, photography and film. Rather than preserving tradition, his work allows it to move, breathe and speak to contemporary audiences.