At a Glance
Bon Om Tuk, Water Festival photography by Jim Mizerski. Opens November 9; closes December 2, 2007. Opening night reception with the photographer December 9, 6:30 p.m.
Related:
The FCC Permanent Collection, four decades of Cambodian history in photographs.
Modest and soft-spoken, Jim Mizerski is hardly what you'd expect from a globetrotting photographer who's intent on helping others with his art.
In fact, he might not even call it art. A former US naval officer who spent a career working as a petrochemical engineer in the Middle East, Mizerski took up photography only after retirement at the age of 60. Now six years later, with an array of subjects as divergent as cookbooks and former US President Bill Clinton behind him, Mizerski's preparing to open his second photography exhibition in Cambodia.
"It's sometimes an obsession, sometimes a hobby. Over here there are opportunities to do something useful with photography," Mizerski says. "If I had the talent to be a painter, I would. But I don't. I know some people don't consider photography an art, but I do. It's like playing the guitar: anyone can do it, but to do it well is a challenge."
A native of Long Beach, California, Mizerski was introduced to Cambodia by a Khmer couple who ran his neighborhood hair salon. He was living in an area called the East Village Arts District and hanging out at an Egyptian-run coffee shop across the street from the beauty parlor. A chance meeting turned into a close friendship, and as Mizerski tells it, the salon became his personal gallery and he was soon asked for some images of the hairdressers' homeland.
This request led to his first visit to Cambodia in 2003, and emotionally he's never left. Based in Phnom Penh, Mizerski spent the next few years gathering images to be shown in the US. Among other subjects, he's presented photo exhibits of Angkor Wat, the Tonle Sap and Cambodia's orphanages. His tender portrait of Clinton cradling an impoverished infant during his 2006 visit to Cambodia drew high praise from the former US President himself. Most recently, he's provided the photography for the Mith Samlanh fundraising cookbook "From Spiders to Water Lillies," set for release in December.
Mizerski's new exhibition, titled "Bon Om Tuk," or "Water Festival" in English, features his favorite subject and Cambodia's biggest party. The show, consisting of images compiled from Water Festivals since 2003, is an intimate and evocative portrayal of the rip-roaring annual rite.
And for Mizerski, it's something much more.
"It's such a spectacular event," he says. ''There's the amazing spectacle for one thing, but there's something heroic about it too."
The heroism is evident in the boat racing, sometimes with 70 rowers per craft. Mizerski was drawn to it immediately.
"One moment I'll never forget: it still gives me chills. I was watching when a coxswain put out his one ceremonial oar and slapped the water. Then the whole crew came to attention and slapped in unison: the boat jumped in the air."
Any introduction to the sacred day at the races would do well to begin with Mizerski's show. Complete with shimmering water droplets and the radiant hues -- yellow, blue, red and green -- of the racing craft, "Bon Om Tuk" is as much photojournalism as an exercise in visual aesthetics.
He gets amazingly close to the action.
"I mentioned to a friend that I wanted to get out on the river, right out there like the race official's boat. He turned to me and said, 'That's my neighbor,' and I was out there the next day from 5:30 am to 7 pm."
As the day is chronicled shadows grow long across the water and the faces of racers soften from fierce competitors to comrades-in-arms. Mizerski's "Bon Om Tuk" is a must-see and will be held at the FCC Phnom Penh from November 9 to December 2.