Book Alive IV

In 2020, Kim Hak travelled to Japan on a fellowship from the Japan Foundation Asia Center with the goal of meeting and creating work with Cambodian communities in Japan. Alive IV, the fourth chapter in the series, is structured around the stories of 15 Cambodian families, which include both former international students unable to return to their country due to the turmoil in Cambodia in the 1970s, and those who came to Japan as refugees in the 1980s having been displaced by Khmer Rouge.

Their possessions, such as watches, family photos and earrings, operate as vessels for memories from their homeland, their journeys to escape and their experiences as exiles. Kim Hak visited with each family, in Kanagawa, Tokyo and Saitama prefectures. First he interviewed them, and then photographed important objects they had retained during their journeys of resettlement. Alongside the photographs Kim Hak also created a written text that tells the story of the object, and by extension, the person.

ISBN: 978-0-473-64517-5

Publisher: Rei Foundation Limited

Book of Alive III

“Alive” III in 2018, Kim Hak engaged with 12 Cambodian families living in Auckland – New Zealand.

“The series of photographs brought together in this publication is emblematic of Kim Hak’s work and his personality. They tell us about a journey into memories, a journey bursting with a great tenderness despite the sufferings it awakens.

Through this collection of objects (and stories), and his way of linking them, Kim Hak leads us with subtlety to the intimacy of a collective history, a history that left him with scars on his soul, too. This story touches people’s hearts far beyond the borders of Cambodia.”

‘Inside and Outside’, introduction text by Rithy Panh

ISBN: 9780994149183

Publisher: Objectspace

Book of Unity

Kim Hak’s photography book, a historical moment that was orchestrated by the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk who is the subject of the book.

Unity is, first and foremost, the coming together of an entire country, Cambodia, whose people are united by deep sorrow. It is the sorrow of a nation whose citizens gathered effortlessly and suddenly dressed in a uniform of white and black to mourn the death of King Father Norodom Sihanouk.

Of this unity, photographer Kim Hak bears witness whilst being immersed in the intertwining of a country succumbing to death and grief. The mourning is his mourning—he is only one amongst the millions who gathered in front of the Royal Palace and at the site of the late King’s cremation ceremony.

ISBN: 978-99963-804-0-2

Self published: Limited editions of 500 copies only