Fulbright — Kannetha Brown-Ngeth

Fulbright Fellowship (Cambodia 2026-27)

I have been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to research in Cambodia during the 2026-27 academic year. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international exchange initiative, a highly competitive fellowship designed to build lasting connections through research, art, and cultural diplomacy. Selection is a rigorous process based on academic and professional merit, placing grantees into a historic network that includes dozens of Nobel Laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners.

Statement of Intent & Framework

This project is an intensive exploration of memory, funded by the Fulbright U.S. Student Research Fellowship. I will execute a 9 month practice-based visual arts and historical research initiative in Cambodia. The core objective of My Sisters Sleep in Battambang is to translate and expand upon a unique historical text: an unpublished nursing master's thesis: Survival During and After the Khmer Rouge, written by my mother, detailing her first-hand survival of the Khmer Rouge genocide. This project interprets and translates her written testimony into a comprehensive visual narrative, a book, and a public multimedia exhibition.

This project functions as a unique artistic research methodology; a spatial, physical re-contextualization of memory where viewers walk through the geography and emotion of my mother’s text. By tracing her geographic trajectory across Phnom Penh, Battambang province, and Moung Ruessei, this project utilizes environmental landscape documentation, contemporary portraiture of surviving family, and site-specific art installations near unmarked grave sites to map intergenerational trauma, investigate the past of lost family members, and visually reconstruct my mother’s story of survival.

Background & Significance: Khmer Rouge Family Photograph and Thesis

Through the systematic execution of millions, the Khmer Rouge regime left behind a landscape layered with unmarked mass graves and the enduring physical and emotional traces of its victims. For the diaspora, these landscapes create a profound sense of geographic and emotional dislocation. This project addresses this void by using my mother’s unpublished nursing thesis as a primary geographic and emotional roadmap.

This textual roadmap is catalyzed by a singular, haunting family artifact: a photograph of my aunt from Moung Ruessei, taken by a Khmer Rouge official before her execution. While locating the exact forensic coordinate where this photograph was taken is a near-impossible task, the objective is not clinical discovery. Rather, it is a pursuit of the feeling of that space, an investigation of the atmospheric, psychological weight of the terrains that bore witness. This project creates a complex visual dialogue where the past (the Khmer Rouge photograph), the present terrain (landscapes), and the survivors (portraits) coexist within the same narrative framework, transforming an academic document of survival into a form of honor.

Visual Storytelling & Exhibition Methodologies

To build a comprehensive, accessible, visual interpretation of the text, I will employ three distinct photographic methodologies, culminating in both a published book and a public exhibition. The exhibition serves as a physical extension of the methodology, a site where the community can interact with the tangible weight of these histories:

Family Ties Pre-Genocide and Post-Resilience in the Capitol (Phnom Penh):
In Phnom Penh, I will learn about and photograph the urban spaces of significance from my mother's pre-war life, including her childhood neighborhood and my grandparents’ former career fields (my grandfather was a Lon Nol politician, and my grandmother was a school teacher). Alongside these spaces, I will create portraits of my surviving family members and the continuity of our family lineage.
Landscape as Witness & Repository (Battambang & Moung Ruessei):
I will document the rural landscapes of Battambang province and Moung Ruessei, which were formerly used as labor camps during the Khmer Rouge genocide, where my family was forced to live. My photographs will be meditative observations of the topography, capturing the heavy stillness of fields, rivers, and paths that were once sites of violence. In addition to traditional daylight photography, I will use other photographic techniques including digital and analog photography, long exposure night photography, and anthotypes (plant-based printing technique).
The "Spirit Flag" Conceptual Installations (Moung Ruessei):
For my deceased family members (grandfather, aunts, etc) whose exact final resting places remain unknown, I will deploy a site-specific installation methodology. Using recovered pre-1975 family photographs my mother owns, I will print archival portraits onto large, semi-transparent mesh textile banners. I will temporarily install these banners as non-invasive, ephemeral altars on trees or on the ground near the landscapes and suspected unmarked grave sites identified through community interviews. The transparency of the mesh allows the local terrain to bleed through the human features, visually anchoring the memory of my deceased loved ones to the soil they are buried in. The installations will be recorded through photo and video and displayed in the exhibition and book.

Logistical Timeline

Months 1–2: Phnom Penh (Base of Operations)
Residing in Phnom Penh with family allows daily access to central research facilities: the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-CAM), S-21 (Tuol Sleng), and Choeung Ek. This phase focuses on the prelude of my mother’s story and the formal historical sites from this era. Here I will learn more about the events leading up to the war and the Khmer Rouge Genocide from experts, and discover more about my grandfather’s past as a Lon Nol politician– serving as the forward of my own interpretation.
Months 3–8: Battambang City & Moung Ruessei (Base of Operations)
Relocating to Battambang City, I will be living at Bossbha's house, a community gallery and cafe space, in their artist-in-residence unit. From this hub, I will commute into rural Battambang province and Moung Ruessei with guides for my safety, to conduct field research, interview and learn from village elders and local monks, and begin landscape photography and site-specific "Spirit Flag" installations. I will also confer with Bossbha’s house and Thnaal Art Farm (Kim Haak’s gallery in Battambang province) about potential exhibitions of the work.
Months 8-9: Production + Exhibition
The final months will be dedicated to exhibiting the work in local exhibition venues and engaging in community conversations about the work. I will also begin sequencing the book layout for My Sisters Sleep in Battambang, and prepare to bring and display the work in the United States. I already have an exhibition venue planned in winter 2027 in my home state.

Ethics: Language & Research Support

Proficiency in the Khmer language is vital to the ethical execution of this sensitive project, allowing me to navigate deep, emotional conversations with village elders, monks, and survivors without the sole need of a translator. I began Khmer language lessons in November 2025 on scholarship in Cambodia through the Rhode Island Foundation, and have continued lessons on a weekly basis virtually. I am now intermediate in speaking Khmer and plan to continue my lessons at Be Like Khmer School while abroad. I also plan to utilize fixers/guides when interviewing survivors regarding sensitive topics that may be difficult for me to communicate accurately in my second language.

Regarding support, to achieve absolute historical accuracy and inform the photographs with intimate stories and information, the fieldwork relies on ongoing institutional and local collaboration to contextualize the historical materials behind the project. I plan to compensate all organizations, locals, and monks who participate in my research and project methods through the following: stipends, donations, teaching, volunteer labor, or a meal when money is not accepted.