Sentosa Mam is a Khmer artist working across textiles, painting, collage and found materials. Mam’s work explores her cross-cultural third-culture identity navigating life between Cambodia and Australia. Sexuality, identity, ideals in representation, traditional expectations and subverting paradigmatic "norms" and conditioned notions are themes embodied in her work. Her practice is rooted in everyday clothing alterations and upcycling of materials, her embroidered patchwork and paintings draw influence from traditional Khmer design exploring a contemporary approach to traditional practices.  Saturated in raw creativity Mam plays with fabric, magazine cut-outs, painting and found objects under her artist pseudonym “12/12” to create a visionary world of rioting sexy evocative expression that channels a voice rooted in self-exploration, heritage, and feminist politics.

Artist Interview: Sentosa Mam 

Who has been a mentor to you? 

Anida Yeou Ali and Masahiro Sugano // Studio Revolt - My first professional experience in the creative industry was working for Ali and Sugano on their collaborative project Studio Revolt. Based worldwide, I worked for them as an intern in Phnom Penh when I was 16. I was introduced to the performance arts and filmmaking world under their wing. At the time I was curious and interested inworking as a filmmaker hoping the experience would help kickstart my passion. Although I chose to pursue other creative practices, I found that the opportunity to be amongst full time creatives felt like the
life I wanted to pursue; making ideas come alive.

What did creativity mean to you as a child? 

It wasn't very conventional to pursue creativity as a career in Cambodia. Being creative was not commonly taught or openly expressed as a way to make a living; I found that most prioritised and focused on a more financially stable life; not much space to “play” and “waste time”.  Creativity was everything to me as a child. Looking back on it now, it seems as though being creative was the only thing I've known to be. It was my chance to shy away from the world of troubles and confusions and enter a space where I can be all that I can imagine and explore. 

How has your relationship to materials and making changed over time?

When I was younger, the influences of my surroundings limited the things I was creating. I felt that if l wasn't drawing something that was a depiction of real life, it wasn't beautiful or it wasn't “real”. I was able to explore other practices in a creative and encouraging environment while I was completing my bachelors. I started creating mostly through illustrations and painting initially. After that I explored handcrafted embellishments like crochet and embroidery. I was able to explore different materials through a deeper understanding of design principles and self-exploration; I was no longer creating to
appease what people could see with my practice, more-so what my relationship was with what I was creating. I was more focused on developing better technical skills while bringing my ideas to life. I found creating intuitively to be my main form of practice. May it be a familiar or new medium/technique, it was important that i gave myself the opportunity to play freely.

How would you describe your approach to making? 
What does intuition mean to you?
There are usually two approaches to how I create. Intuitively and through thought out planning. When I approach a worn-out pair of jeans or ball or yarn, I usually follow a color theme or a particular shape I'd like to make. From then I just let my hands do the work and after a few hours, I have created the foundations to plan forward from then. I pride myself as a collector of beautiful things. With the resources that I have, it is easy for me to combine my material with my ideas. Troubleshooting my ideas comes after I start. May it be conceptual or practical.

What is your relationship with inspiration and ideas?
Trial and error - sometimes what’s in my mind will not translate to actuality. I will harness the ideas that I have onto the surface, starting with a sketch with notes on colour, structure, and aesthetic goals. From then I will start trialing those aspects. Then through developments, trial and error, I am able to complete a piece within a short time span or revisit over a long period till completion. With the intuitive flow that I follow, once I start working towards a final outcome, I will not stop till the end result. 

What questions do you ask of yourself in your work? 
Why am I doing this? Am I trying to practice a new technique I'm exploring? New mediums I'm using? How do I feel? If I am sharing this piece, what would I like others to see or feel with this piece? Can my perspective be relatable? 

What do you always come back to? 
My roots as a Khmer woman

Do you look to other artists for inspiration?
When I feel as though I have run out of ideas/ feel inspired by something different. My mind consists of many ideas that I am yet to explore. When I lack the necessary tools or technical understanding of what I'd like to create, I have noticed that finding inspiration from other artists and their ethos helps me develop mine.

How did growing up in Cambodia shape you as an artist?
I think growing up in Cambodia limited my sense of identity as an artist. I had felt as though there wasn't much room for me to grow nor many opportunities for me to gain. It is not till re-visiting Cambodia and seeing how much space has grown and evolved into a creative friendly (and encouraged) community that I am able to partake in and be recognised in that growth. 

How do you navigate living between two cultures? 
It is a constant struggle. I find that most of my challenges with existentialism leads back to navigating between two cultures. I believe we are the product of our environment as much as it is our nature. I am still learning this dance, the dance I have known the longest but am having a difficult time mastering. But living between two cultures has helped my understanding of my identity tenfold. I used to feel as though I had to pick, but I recognised overtime that I am neither one nor the other, but both. 

What does Creativity and “rebellion” mean to you? 
Love this word. Makes me feel like I'm fighting for something bigger than myself, which was what I felt most of the time growing up in Cambodia as an emerging artist. Rebelling over expectations as a Khmer woman, rebelling from the presumed success from pursuing a career in the rat race. Ew. Standing tall in a crowded stinky space full of uninspiring people. I think being an artist and creative comes with that fight in you. From all your demons and all the demons surrounding you.