ARTIST STATEMENT
In the summer of 2024, I visited my grandmother Simone’s home in Hilton, New York for the first time since I was 14. My grandma, a Cambodian refugee, was sponsored to live in Rochester, NY in the 1980s and was later remarried to my step-grandpa Mike, a retired American firefighter with abusive tendencies. As her only child that survived the Cambodian Genocide, my mother has continuously offered to move my grandma to Rhode Island to live together, but Mike always refused to leave Hilton and my grandma felt obligated to take care of him. I only know my grandma through seldom visits from my childhood, gifts sent by mail, and video calls when my mom is cooking. Sometimes they would switch from speaking English to Khmer, and though I don’t speak much Khmer myself, I always knew the frustration in my grandmother’s voice and what she was talking about– their nine years of separation during the genocide remain undiscussed. Curious about my grandma’s situation, I drove to Hilton for the first time by myself. Though the house looked the way I remembered it, I could now see and feel my grandmother’s grief; from her plants that bear witness, to the intricate displays of her memories, to the lawn and trees she trims on her own.
ARTIST BIO:
Kannetha Brown is a Cambodian-American photographer from Providence, Rhode Island. Her mother and grandmother are refugees of the Cambodian Genocide (Khmer Rouge Regime), and her grandfather was a military official under Prime Minister Lon Nol. Her work explores intergenerational trauma, and lived histories of survival and kinship in her local community. Her analog practice re-contextualizes the Khmer Rouge’s oppressive photographs, and resists the erasure of Cambodian heritage caused by the Khmer Rouge, and amnesia about America’s involvement. Her exhibitions include the University of Iowa and Rochester Institute of Technology. She has lectured at Leica (Boston), Brown University and Bryant University. Her awards include; a Citizen Citation from the Mayor of Providence and an Andy Warhol Foundation Grant from Interlace. She earned her BFA in Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.