Preservation of Clothing and Memory in Cambodia: A Collaborative Model

Abstract

Artifacts of genocide present a particular set of emotional, cultural, and conservation challenges. Forty years after the Khmer Rouge regime (1975–1979), Cambodia’s Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21 Prison) is a compelling example of the struggle to balance authenticity, access, and sustainable preservation. The conservation of its genocide textiles, by far the most intimate and perishable of any genocide artifacts, has gained urgency for their repair, storage and display. A multi-year textile conservation triage and training project incorporated regional sensitivities to prioritise the victims’ clothing as a living and accessible collection. The project’s guiding principles were respect for the objects, suitability to the tropical climate, concern about future use and study, and sustainable practice. The resulting protocols modified prevailing conservation and archeological approaches, and integrated local values to apply a multi-faceted approach to reducing risks. These historic materials now carefully catalogued and better protected, are historic touchstones, revealing human stories and details of S-21. This physical connection to history gave the stakeholders a deeper understanding of conservation and why their role is essential to preserve their country’s legacies.

KEYWORDS:

• Khmer Rouge
• Cambodia
• genocide
• Tuol Sleng
• victims’ clothing
• textile preservation
• sustainable
• tropical climate

Acknowledgements

To the teams at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Cambodian Ministry of Culture, US Embassy in Phnom Penh, and Adik, Angel and Etelle.

Notes

1 For more information about drying beads see Drying Beads (2014).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julia M Brennan

Julia M. Brennan, founder of Caring for Textiles, has worked in the field of textile conservation since 1985. She is committed to conservation outreach and the protection of cultural property by providing stakeholders with sustainable skills. Since 2000, she has led conservation workshops in Bhutan, Madagascar, Algeria, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Rwanda in museums, monasteries, genocide memorials, and community based collections. Julia has a BA from Columbia University, and a Masters in art crime from The Association for Research in Crimes Against Art.