On Monday, December 27, 2021, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum launched a new, moving exhibition of victims’ clothes—Remembering S-21 Victims through their Clothes: Textiles Preservation at Tuol Sleng Museum.

The exhibition is the culmination of four years of focused conservation triage, treatment, and training in order to preserve the clothing and textile remains from a major prison site of the Khmer Rouge genocide. The clothing and the stories they tell are powerful personal testimonies of the enormous tragedy suffered by Cambodians.

Generously supported by two grants from the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, 2018-2021, Julia Brennan implemented a textile conservation training program at the museum, and in collaboration developed sustainable methods for long-term preservation and storage of the textiles. Even when the pandemic halted in-person training, we all continued the daily work of this project thanks to online meetings and enormous dedication. This exhibition is about the hard work to rescue and catalog these textiles into a well-cared for and accessible archive, for greater public education, understanding, and healing.

Thank you to Tuol Sleng Museum Director Mr. Nisay Hang and former Director Mr. Visoth Chhay, and to all the US Embassy Phnom Penh, and the Tuol Sleng Exhibition team. Special heartfelt thanks to my conservation colleagues: Chenda Kho, Sokpenh Chheang, Chetrey Chean, Sokly Choub, Sreynoch Ping, and Jackie Peterson Grace. It was such an honor to work with you all.

— All photos: Courtesy of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum & US Embassy, Phnom Penh, Cambodia—

The opening ceremony was presided by H.E. Prak Sonnara, Secretary of State of Ministry of Culture of Fine Arts, and Mr. Benjamin V. Wohlauer, Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States Ambassador to Cambodia.

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Through photos and text panels, the physical clothing, testimonials and videos, the exhibit shows the processes and results of the sensitive and site-based conservation protocols developed to preserve these fragile ‘witness bearing’ textiles.

To learn more:

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Watch the public presentation by Julia Brennan and Tuol Sleng conservation team:
Textiles of Human Tragedies: Preservation Efforts at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
Washington Conservation Guild WCG, May 6, 2021.

WCG YouTube channel: 
washingtonconservationguild.org

EAC News
Tuol Sleng Opens New Temporary Exhibition Showcasing Preserved Clothes of S-21 Victims
(video link below)

Further reading, link below:
Khmer Times
December 28, 2021, by Yin Soeum

Tuol Sleng launches moving new exhibition of victims’ clothes