Krama and Barbwire. This is from my father, Kim Hap, 68 years old. In all times, the Krama has been used by the Cambodian people. It is a traditional garment used for many different purposes. It is even considered an object that symbolizes the whole country. I visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh many times before embarking on this photo project. The Khmer Rouge soldiers used barbwire as a tool to delimit or lock the prison. It has come to signify coercion and sadness for me. This photo serves as the key image for the whole series, representing war, pain and suffering. © Hak Kim

Baby powder can (Guigoz, imported from Holland) and baby powder. This is from a man named Khun Vanna, born in 1961. Vanna confirmed that when he was a baby, he consumed this baby powder. Thus, he must have been from a rich family as this product was imported from Europe. During the Khmer Rouge period, Vanna had run away and stayed with his grandmother in the Battambang province. He said he saw his grandmother use this can to hide her valuable jewelry. © Hak Kim

Photo and Plastic Bag. The man in this photo is named Chhoa Thiem. He was a friend of my father in the early 1960s. They studied and went out together in Phnom Penh during this Golden Age of Cambodia before the war. Chhoa Thiem liked taking photos of his friends when they went on picnics or travelled out of town. My father kept all the black and white photos that his friend gave him. In 1964, Chhoa Thiem was sent by his family to study in France. My father received no news from him afterwards. Today, he does not know whether his old friend is alive or dead. During the Khmer Rouge regime, my parents and many other people threw away their pictures and identity cards to hide their background. Otherwise, they might have been killed immediately if only one Khmer Rouge had found out who they were, especially if they happened to be well-educated people, former high-ranking officials, army officers, or even simple teachers or soldiers. People were taking a huge risk when they kept some of their photographs as mementos of times past and to remember their loved ones. Working on this project, I discovered something I had not known about people’s determination to preserve cherished souvenirs. I thought that my parents had simply concealed some pictures under their clothes. Reality was more poignant: all their photos had carefully been wrapped in plastic and buried in the ground near the place where they lived. © Hak Kim

Scissors and Hair. This was inspired by a lady named Seung Touch, 79 years old, who lives in Battambang. Before the war, she was a dressmaker, and these are her scissors. During the Khmer Rouge time, all girls and women had to wear their hair short. No one could avoid this. Seung Touch used these scissors to cut the hair of her family members. One day, I saw her having her hair cut. I asked her permission to photograph a few discarded locks of her white hair. © Hak Kim

Sandal and Footprint with Thorn. This sandal is my father's. He bought them after the war so he could remember the darkness of that period. People who lived through the Khmer Rouge regime recognize them right away. As my father told me, “Not everyone had sandals to wear. They were only distributed to Khmer Rouge soldiers and those who worked for them. Ordinary people had to walk barefoot—even through thorns.” © Hak KIM

Bowl, Spoon and Rice, with Chopped Morning Glory. This is from the family of Sot Sineun who lives in Battambang. Sot used this bowl and spoon before the war and continues to use it every day. "During the regime, they gave us very little food: a few grains of steamed rice or watered-down rice porridge. So, people sliced morning glory (a flower) to mix in with what was provided." © Hak KIM

Kettle and Chicken. This kettle belongs to my family. We have owned it since 1970 and still use it every day to boil water. "During the Khmer Rouge regime, we fed the chickens but could not eat them," my mother, Mor Rean, told me. "Sometimes we stole a chicken at night and cooked it so we could survive. It’s a bittersweet memory but that’s why I keep this kettle and still use it: it holds so much memory." One time when my father was sick, she took the risk of stealing a chicken. He was very weak and she wanted him to have real food. But he was so afraid of being killed for doing this that he did not dare eat the boiled chicken my mother brought him. © Hak KIM

Medicine tube, needle and thread. Belongings of a lady named Gnet Yorn, who passed away at 93 years old in 2004. When the Khmer Rouge soldiers forced people to move from their city homes to new places in the countryside, Gnet Yorn brought along many tiny possessions. For example, she put her sewing needle inside a used medicine tube. It enabled her to sew. The needle lasted her till the end of her life. © Hak Kim

Notebooks and Tooth of the Dead. These books are also from Gnet Yorn. During the Khmer Rouge regime, books were banned. If a soldier or those spying on people caught someone reading, the person was declared educated and thus immediately executed. My family came close to being killed at one point. My father had kept his English and French books. When a spy found out, my parents knew what would happen. So that very night, they fled with my sisters Kim Sreyroth and Kim Tharan and my brother Kim Chanthara. They hid in another village where they were able to conceal their background. Gnet Yorn had taken a big risk by keeping three notebooks in which she had written the Dharma—the teachings of the Buddha. She often hid to read the text at night. She always believed that her and her family had been under God’s protection during that period. © Hak KIM

Fish Oil and Smoke. This bottle of fish oil belonged to Gnet Yorn (see previous caption). During the Pol Pot regime, the Khmer Rouge forced people to leave cities and live in work camps in the countryside. Most people had no electricity during the whole regime. So they had to invent ways to remedy this. They ended up burning fish oil and any type of oil they could get to give themselves light. © Hak KIM

Bucket with Coontail and Duckweed. This bucket with aquatic plants belonged to Gnet Yorn (see previous caption). Under the Khmer Rouge, no clean water was provided. Everyone had to use water from the nearest pond, river or lake, no matter how dirty. © Hak KIM

Canteen with Canvas Cover and Banaba (Lagerstroemia speciosa). This military canteen belongs to my father. After the Khmer Rouge regime, the situation remained unstable in the country until the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement put an end to war and brought in a UN administration to oversee the country and hold the 1993 national elections. My father had joined the armed forces in 1980. He retired in 2008. Before the 1993 election, he fought against the Khmer Rouge troops in the jungle where they were entrenched along the border in the northwest. This photo is a reminder of my father’s time spent fighting in that region that was heavily mined. © Hak KIM

Mess Tin and canned fish. This military mess tin belongs to my father, Kim Hap. It is from the 1970s but he got it in 1980. After the Khmer Rouge regime, the situation remained unstable in the country until the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement. Finally, after decades of conflict, the UN was brought in to oversee the country and hold the 1993 national elections. © Hak Kim

Statue of the Buddha and a Bodhi Tree Leaf. I found this small statue of the Buddha hidden in the ground when we renovated my house in Phnom Penh in 2006. It had belonged to the home’s previous owner Keo Sronos. When the Khmer Rouge troops took control of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, they ordered people out of the capital, telling them that the United States was about to bomb cities and that they should only take the essential with them, as they would soon return. Many people believed this and left their valuables behind. The country’s population was kept in work camps in the countryside during the whole regime, which lasted 3 years, 8 months and 20 days. Among those who survived, many never got a chance to go back to their former homes. The Pol Pot regime prohibited all religious practices, at times using Buddhist pagodas as killing grounds. © Hak Kim

Pottery and Incense. This belonged to my grandmother Huot, who passed away at the age of 83 just a few years ago. In my family, we use pottery—big and small—on a daily basis: to store rice or salt, keep oil or the famous Cambodian fish paste prahok. This small pot has been in my family for many generations. My grandmother used this particular pot to hold incense sticks when she prayed. Of course, she had not been able to pray openly during the Khmer Rouge regime. But afterwards, she used this pot for praying till the end of her life. Before departing, she gave it to me. © Hak Kim