Chath Piersath

I think there are things I can't write in English that I wish I could write in Khmer.

— Chath Piersath

This is my first collaboration [with Mary Hamill] so I'm going to learn how it's going to work.

— Chath Piersath

I've been coming to Cambodia off and on, six months of the year usually.

— Chath Piersath

The family I grew up in had three generations of widows.

— Chath Piersath

Sometimes it may be something I hear in the news that affects me.

— Chath Piersath

There are multiple things entering in your mind.

— Chath Piersath

I'm very connected to the story, the history, and the trauma people experience.

— Chath Piersath

I think that through the narratives of other people you get closer to your own.

— Chath Piersath

Often when people tell their story, they talk about their strengths and resiliency. It's really about their determination and their aspiration to…

— Chath Piersath

You get closer to your own humanity by understanding the stories of other people and the struggles they have.

— Chath Piersath

When you're reading from a different language that's different from your own, it's not the same as being fluent.

— Chath Piersath

I am a community social psychologist and a lot of my work deals with social work and helping people overcoming addiction and…

— Chath Piersath

I tried to write poems in rhyme. I tried writing songs. Sometimes I jotted down a thought. I would keep a log…

— Chath Piersath

When you make art, those things change shape into something else. It's transformation into a body of different visual elements.

— Chath Piersath

I thought of the pillowcases as a symbol of love and loss, of retaining the memory of your loved one.

— Chath Piersath

I don't approach my writing or my work from an academic or analytical point of view. I do it for myself.

— Chath Piersath

Every day you are bombarded by so many different things. When you sit down to process everything, it can become interesting visually.…

— Chath Piersath

Sometimes I fantasize about learning to write in Khmer. Because if I could write in Khmer, my perspective would be very different,…

— Chath Piersath

I think every writer has their waves of inspiration and their ways of doing things. But writing is very difficult for me.…

— Chath Piersath

I'm also developing my own narrative, because I'm the son of a widow. And so, while working with women and gathering their…

— Chath Piersath

When I was in the sixth grade my friend and I always won writing contests, and we read a lot of books.…

— Chath Piersath

In This Body Mystery, even though it was written in the voice of people with HIV/AIDS, it's about how people come to…

— Chath Piersath

Mary's [Hamill] working from an outsider perspective and I'm working from an insider-outside perspective. In this case, it will bring an added…

— Chath Piersath

Even though I'm not privileged in the money world, I'm privileged in other ways: I had greater access to education, I can…

— Chath Piersath

Whether I affect one person or an entire family, or even a group of people, I feel like I have resources and…

— Chath Piersath

I met Mary [Hamill] in New York at my exhibition and when I told her about my oral history project she asked,…

— Chath Piersath

You have to experiment with different mediums and things around you [making art].

— Chath Piersath

I'd like to do more collaborations because collaboration creates different viewpoints.

— Chath Piersath

How am I placing myself in the world of other people around me? For me, I feel that I am not really…

— Chath Piersath

I used to despair about the condition of the world, to feel a sense of hopelessness; now I find more and more…

— Chath Piersath

Even if you look in the dictionary you know the meaning of the word or phrase, but there's still the feeling of…

— Chath Piersath

I think every person has a unique story to tell and we each have the different life events that happen to us…

— Chath Piersath

It's like you're organically developing yourself, moving out, metamorphosing into other forms depending on where you are, what you're doing at the…

— Chath Piersath

Sometimes the mere connection we make with each other can change people's lives. It doesn't have to be something big. The mere…

— Chath Piersath

In Cambodian culture the male figure in the family is important; when you lose your husband you lose your economic ability to…

— Chath Piersath

I think that there are certain feelings and things you can convey in a simple form that people can see and understand.

— Chath Piersath

I started to paint in the year 2000. I never thought of going to an art school, even though I loved art.

— Chath Piersath

I liked museums but I wanted to be a dancer, I wanted to go into performing arts, or be a writer.

— Chath Piersath

If I were really fluent and born into the English language, I would probably become a greater writer.

— Chath Piersath

I write and I write and a lot of times I go back to the American lens, though sometimes it's a struggle…

— Chath Piersath