THE MEMORIES THAT SHAPE OUR HISTORY, BELIEVED TO BE ENTIRELY LOST, ARE IN FACT GENTLY CRADLED BY THE WAVES. IN CONSTANT MOTION, THEY REVEAL THEMSELVES AND RETREAT, SHIFTING WITH THE EBB AND FLOW OF THE TIDES. THE VIOLENCE AND ENDURING REPERCUSSIONS OF ERASURE CANNOT BE OVERLOOKED. YET WITHIN THE SCATTERED FRAGMENTS OF HIDDEN AND DORMANT STORIES LIES A VIBRANT RESISTANCE, WAITING TO BE UNCOVERED AND SHARED ONCE MORE.
IT IS THIS RADICAL HOPE THAT KEEPS US AFLOAT AMID THE UNGRIEVABLE.
FROM BURIED TO LIVING ARCHIVES — Imagining Best Of vinyls by Cambodian psychedelic rock legends (1960-70) is a way of reappropriating history. Resurrecting these artifacts, whose disappearance was orchestrated, counteracts the erasure of Cambodian bodies by Orientalism and the Khmer Rouge.
- Exhibited in person at Remembering Homelands, Rebuilding Lives: On the Lived Experiences of the Cambodian Diaspora in Canada, by McGill Southeast Asia Lecture Series, 2026.
- Published as research paper Illustration as a Vessel to Access Portals of Sound Memory in Rejoinder Journal, 2022.
- Exhibited online at Shifting Articulations and Manifestations of Asian-ness in Contemporary Canada, by curator Yang Lim, 2022.
BEAST — An invitation to refuse assimilation at its roots.
♡ Full portfolio ♡
About Me
ប្រវត្តិរូប
The Illustrator as Public Intellectual
Rather than merely reflecting the times, ‘In an atomic era, the illustrator should be a reactor’. A nuclear reactor is not a settling prospect but the public intellectual illustrator, as a catalyst, stimulating energy and change. The role is ours by inheritance and duty.
– Jaleen Grove
Studio Greenhouse
Makeup artist Celica Sea
As an illustrator and scholar, I use illustration in research-creation to seize its agency when language has been lost and history has been rewritten. My work is at the intersection of race, visual culture and critical archival studies, with a specific interest in social movements.
As a Cambodian born in Montreal in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge genocide, I find healing in focusing my illustration work and research publications on retrieving Khmer memory by re-narrating the lost and distorted archives. Drawn by the challenge of illuminating hope, I aim to turn assimilation strategies into tactics to subvert power and restore agency to the people.
My research explores illustration as radical hope in the face of erasure. At the core of my lifelong work is a reconnection to Khmer oral history and people.
In illustration, I specialize in visual communication, scientific comics, editorial, books, and murals. I hope to add moving images for music videos and films.
I am currently working on my first graphic novel, about the undocumented story of Cambodians in Quebec. I speak Khmer, French, and English.
ILLUSTRATOR AS PROVOCATEUR
THE PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVE IS TO CREATE A PLATFORM TO CHANGE THEIR FRAMES OF REFERENCE BY CRITICALLY REFLECTING ON THEIR ASSUMPTIONS AND BELIEFS. TO CONSCIOUSLY CHALLENGE AND CREATE NEW WAYS OF DEFINING EVERYTHING THAT CONTROLS OR INFLUENCES THEIR WORLD. THIS IS THE PRECEPT THAT DEFINES PROVOCATION.
-ALAN MALE
RESUME
Education
2020 – 2024 | Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Master’s in Media Studies, Communication – Research-Creation
- Thesis: Illustration to translate the Oral History of Cambodians in Quebec: From Reminiscing to Archiving Hope, Amid Erasure
- Creation project: Developing a methodology of visual narrative specific to Cambodian’s intergenerational trauma and loss of common language. Based on techniques of oral history revival, archives reenactment and the re-narration of collective stories. The prototype of illustrations serve as a guideline for a silent graphic novel about the undocumented story of Khmer people in Quebec.
- Core concepts: erasure & memoricide, Baksbat, silence, post-memory, agency, radical hope
- Related Topics: collective amnesia, oral history revival, illustration as visual language, reclaiming history, counter-narrative, archives.
- Fields involved: critical race theory, critical archival studies & visual culture and communication (the cultural studies)
🏆 2022 Funding, Conseil des arts de Montréal
🏆 2020 Steven Goldberg Entry Bursary, Concordia University
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2018 | Centre de formation DAWAN, Bordeaux, France
Advanced Certificate in Graphic Design (OPFQ Certification)
- Adobe Illustrator
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2010 – 2013 | Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Canada
Bachelor’s Degree in Geography – Major in Territorial Analysis and Planning Research
- Internship 1.5 year: Methodology of research in geography, UQAM & University of West Timisoara (Romania)
- Memoir: Tourism and Natural Hazards Risk Management in the Carpathian Mountains
- Other research: Land eviction in Cambodia
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2005 – 2007 | Cégep de Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Canada
Diploma of Collegial Studies in Fine Arts
- Specialization: mixed techniques of painting, clay, fabric and photographs
- Project: My family’s archives and oral history
- Organized a collective exhibition with 30 artists and 100 art pieces
🏆 2008 Laureate for Excellence in Community Engagement
🏆 2007 Finalist in the Quebec Inter-College Fine Arts Competition
🏆 2007 for Exhibition Against Racism by Tolerance.Inc
🏆 2006-07 Distinction Among 3 Private Collectors (Paintings)
Professional Experiences
2017 – Present | Illustrator (Independent)
♡ Illustration as radical hope in the face of erasure
♡ Representation & visual narrative: race and gender focus
♡ Visual communication : anti-oppression focus
BOOKS
- Comment transformer une banane en vélo, Éditions Kata, 2022
- Audio adaptation for literary walk activity, Bonnaventure Bookfair, October 2022
- Preschool pedagogical tool adaptation, Télé-Québec, September 2021-August 2022
- Suggested by Tellement Courteau Radio-Canada, April 2020
- The Doll, Second Story Press, 2021
- Agenda des femmes 2020, Éditions du Remue-ménage, 2019
AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS
- #MakeChildhoodAPriority #PrioritePetiteEnfance for Early Childhood Week, by Collectif petite enfance, 2021
- #OnVousCroit, Regroupement québécois des centres d’aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel, 2020
- #AsiansAreNotTheVirus #LesAsiatiquesNeSontPasLeVirus, Provocateur Pencils, 2020
- #Commetoi, Table de quartier Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, 2020
RESEARCH ASSISTANT – April 2022 – Present | Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University
- Head Researcher: Gada Marhouse
- Project on revisiting race lexicon: Quebec Black, Indigenous and Women of Colour Activism in 2022: From A to Z
- Website prototype for future book
- Co-author: review of critical literature, experimenting a methodology based on oral history interview methods, drawing visual mindmap, writing, meetings
CO-EDITOR & ART DIRECTOR – 2016 – 2021 | Independent Cyclo-Feminist Publishing LES DÉRAILLEUSES
- Planning projects for gender equity in the cycling world: Workshop and talk, publications, interviews
- Representative & management of distribution in France
- Art direction, visual communication of the Londonderry book & flyer, layout and packaging.
- 🏆 2016 Londonderry won the prize for Best Zine EXPOZINE MTL
Publications
BOOKS
- Author and illustrator of article in Rejoinder Journal, Special Issue Trauma, Rutgers University (New Jersey). 2022. ‘From Buried to Living Archives. Illustration as a Vessel to Access Portals of Sound Memory. A Culture of Hope in the Making — the Cambodian Case’.
- Comment transformer une banane en vélo as illustrator, Éditions Kata, 2022
- Audio adaptation for literary walk activity, Bonnaventure Bookfair, October 2022
- Preschool pedagogical tool adaptation, Télé-Québec, September 2021-August 2022
- Suggested by Tellement Courteau Radio-Canada, April 2020
- The Doll as illustrator Second Story Press, 2021
- Comme toi j’ai une histoire as Illustrator, Femmes-relais et 200 portes HM, 2020
- Agenda des femmes 2020 as Illustrator, Éditions du Remue-ménage, 2019
- Londonderry vol.2 Bike Touring & Cyclo-feminism as illustrator, author and art director, Les dérailleuses, 2016-17
Exhibitions
2023 Mémoire de l’avenir
Ces mémoires qui nous bercent, by Art Urbain Mtl & Art souterrain Montreal, curated by Camille Larivée
2022 From Buried to Living Archives
- Shifting Articulations of Asian-ness in Contemporary Canada by Intersections in Art, Curated by Yang Lim
- Digital Immaterialities Conference Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal
Talk
On Illustrationᅳor Visualizing Hope in the Intricacies of Erasure
- 2026 Speaker at Remembering Homelands, Rebuilding Lives: On the Lived Experiences of the Cambodian Diaspora in Canada, by McGill Southeast Asia Lecture Series, 2026.
- 2025 Speaker at workshop Rooted Voices, by Learning Loop Collective & Parker Mah.
- 2024 Panelist on Diversity and inclusion: inspiring practices for children’s and young adult literature at Montreal’s Book Fair (Salon du livre de Montréal).
- 2024 & 2023 Speaker on Illustration and social meanings. Course Experimental Type and Image of Kevin Yuen-Kit Lo, Concordia University, Montréal.
- 2023 ART-Talks panel on Asian Diaspora and Migration Narratives: Artist Perspective at the International Symposium of the Korean Film Festival of Canada.
- 2023 Speaker on food as resistance through illustration, at MEM, Montréal.
- 2022 Panelist at Between Present and Past Exhibition, by Je suis MTL
- 2020 Speaker on representations in childrens’ books, by RÉDAQ Écoles Démocratiques QC.
- 2019 Speaker at Stories for Change, by Amplify Project, Oxfam-QC.
- 2019 Speaker on the power of representation, Illustration Québec & SDGQ.
- 2019 Panelist on Powerful illustrated books to address sensitive topics, by Salon du livre de Montréal.
Community Building
Ratanak Cambodian Community Farm | 2021 – 2022
- Agriculture (Asian vegetables), collective cooking and cleaning
- Bridging 1st and 2nd generation Cambodian-Canadians
Coaching & Mentorship of BIPOC Creatives | 2020 – Present
- Race and gender-based power dynamics in arts and culture
- Debunking the Brown imposter syndrome
- Beyond representation: traps in visual culture
- Media-making is archive-making
- Resisting assimilation to Whiteness in the workplace: Learning critical vocabulary & stereotypes
- Communication with collaborators and clients: Setting boundaries & navigating conflicts
- Price Negotiations
- Canadian Copyright Law
- Transitioning into a freelance profession: Where to start?
Research-Creation Project
ការស្រាវជ្រាវ និងការបង្កើត
“There is so much knowledge that you still don’t know, who will inherit it if you still remain in ignorance? It’s time to rise.”
–MASTER KONG NAY & Vannda វណ្ណដា
Research-creation project partly funded by the Conseil des arts de Montréal
Features
ព័ត៌មាន
Interview
Full interview with CANADIAN WOMEN IN DESIGN – 2022
- 2020 Radio-Canada (Denis Wong) Illustrer pour dénoncer la montée du racisme anti-asiatique
- 2020 Festival Accès Asie & 2nd National Asian Heritage Month Symposium Do you think it’s important to promote your Asian heritage in your work as an artist?
- 2020 Festival Accès Asie & 2nd National Asian Heritage Month Symposium #AsiansAreNotTheVirus Unite Against Anti-Asian Racism – Unis contre le racisme anti-asiatique #2
- 2020 R Magazine (Lucas Mengual) L’illustration pour des lendemains plus inclusifs, l’engagement de Ravy Puth
- 2020 Kata Editions L’insoutenable légèreté du vélo
Press
- February 2022 CBC Books 11 Canadian children’s books to read on Pink Shirt Day
- February 2021 Kirkus Review A touching, full-circle journey about the lasting impact of kindness
- McKay, 2021 Prairies Books Now Tale of a touching gift passed on to a new refugee family turns into picture book
- June 2021 Quill & Quire magazine of the Canadian book trade Joy and diversity: Q&Q’s summer reading guide for young people
- April 2021 The Globe and Mail Are your kids home from school? Here are 10 books to spark their imaginations in spring 2021
- April 2021 CBC Books 65 Canadian picture books to check out in spring 2021
- April 2021 Canadian Review of Materials The Doll
- 2021 Eden Mills Writers’ Festival EMWF Kids’ Reads
- 2020 ELAN Staying Connected: Asian Artists in Quebec
- Comment transformer une banane en vélo?! (Des matins en or, Radio de Radio-Canada, 2020)
- 2020 Radio-Canada Tellement Courteau
- 2020 Un autre blog de maman Des livres jeunesse pour ouvrir à la diversité et lutter contre le racisme
- December 2019 Les librairies indépendants Nos 20 couvertures préférées de 2019
- 2018 Youthreporter Images, Bicycle, Feminism: The story of a Cyclo-Feminist
- 2017 Zigonnage Vélo, féminisme et montagnes
Community Building
ការកសាងសហគមន៍
Mentoring illustrators and other creatives 2020-present
Topics: Canadian copyright law, price negotiation, analyzing a contract, making quotes. Through educational visuals, accompaniment on the phone and individual workshop in-person (2020-present).
Launched the campaign #AsiansAreNotTheVirus by Provocateur Pencils in 2020
Over 50 visual artists rallied in the midst of the anti-Asian racism in 2020.
Sketching cafe
Behind the scenes
នៅពីក្រោយឆាក
There is no AI in my work and there never will be.
/ᐠ. ｡.ᐟ\ᵐᵉᵒʷˎˊ˗
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I AM THANKFUL TO
My mama, cousis and friends’ love, food and support
♡♡ (=◐ᆽ◐=)ฅ ♡♡