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

In This Body Mystery, even though it was written in the voice of people with HIV/AIDS, it's about how people come to accept their fate and their sickness. It's about accepting the way your life is.

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

I'm also developing my own narrative, because I'm the son of a widow. And so, while working with women and gathering their oral histories, I'm taking a step back to do my own art book and visual work.

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

How am I placing myself in the world of other people around me? For me, I feel that I am not really alone, that others can feel it too. I see art in this way.

When I hear Khmer poets, when they recite their poems, I know what they're talking about, I get it right away.