Some people have witnessed the killing of their husbands, or they survived other horrific things. My sister is a widow but her husband was killed after the Khmer Rouge. There are different periods in which violence has occurred, and differences in how these women became widowed and how they survived afterwards.

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.

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

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 dimension to the visual aspects of the work. Also the processes and approaches that I'm thinking are about learning. I'm playing it by ear to experiment and see what happens.

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

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