
This painted Cambodian sign, advertising a ‘Welder of Metal’, is certainly one of the most curious I have come across so far. I first heard about it when it was advertised for sale, here on Khmer 440 Cambodian Forums. It…
This painted Cambodian sign, advertising a ‘Welder of Metal’, is certainly one of the most curious I have come across so far. I first heard about it when it was advertised for sale, here on Khmer 440 Cambodian Forums. It…
Notions of beauty are discussed in one of chapters in the book, provoked by the many painted signs in Cambodia for hair and makeup shops. The depictions of women on these signs varies considerably, although they are often portrayed with…
Gordon sent me this picture that I never saw while researching the book, Hand-Painted Signs of Kratie. It is from Roka Kandal, just South of Kratie town, and reads ‘Repair Television, Tape Player, VCD’ (VCDs are Video CDs). Like Gordon…
Joel Montague has recently made a brilliant addition to the published material on Cambodia’s hand-painted signs. ‘Cambodian Shop Signs: Free-Market Signage in a Post-Marxist Society‘ is a detailed account of the form, featuring over 80 colour images. It is the…
I love these public information/social campaigns captured by Alex Diment during his time working on landmine issues in North-West Cambodia. First up is a sexual health campaign from Kampong Thom province suggesting that using condoms can be as fun as…
The popularity of hand-painted signs in Cambodia seems to be increasing on a daily basis. During last week’s ‘road show’ to launch the book in Phnom Penh I learned of a new shop that, among many other things, is selling…
Hand-painted signs from Cambodia are clearly in vogue. This week I learned about the publication of another book on the topic, following Robert Joiner’s in 2005 and my own this month. The new book was launched with an exhibition in…
We’ve currently got guests over from the UK and my wife has taken them to Koh Kong in the South West of the country from where she has sent this despatch of signs, all painted on blue in the traditional…
The Fowler Museum at the University of California is holding a four-month exhibition from 2nd December featuring the collection of Joel Montague, part of which he has donated to them. The sign above is among those that will be exhibited.…
If you haven’t done so already then I’d highly recommend browsing the Flickr group, Hand Painted Signs of Cambodia. It is a real treasure trove of content, mixing the beautiful, bizarre and bemusing in one nifty package. A number of…
Joel Montague is a veteran of hand-painted signs in Cambodia and his collection is a unique record of those from the 1990s. I was fortunate enough to make contact with Joel in the USA ahead of publishing my book and…
Steve Tierney is another enthusiast for Cambodia’s hand-painted signs. Whereas I have directed my own interest towards creating the book, Steve has interpreted the signs through his series of “Collage Art Posters”. I caught up with him to learn more…
This is one of a collection of replica hand-painted signs on display at Bojangles bar and restaurant on Phnom Penh’s riverfront. The signs are sold as souvenirs and aim to provide income for rural signpainters. They are scaled down from…
Working on the book has brought me into contact with a number of fellow enthusiasts. One of these, Cassandra Naji, has kindly shared a couple of her photos, so thank you Cassandra. The picture above, from Battambang, shows a number of…