Cham Silk Project Description

The Muslim minority Cham in Cambodia has over decades perfected the art of silk-making in an extraordinarily artistic, unique and masterful manner. Due to a variety of conditions, the skills required for the process are dying out as those capable of it are passing on. This practice has been an integral part of Cham culture since the minority first migrated here, but now the country risks losing it.

Cham silks possess unique artistic value and are a reflection of the unique minority Muslim community that wove them. This project is to safeguard both tangible (silk-making) and intangible heritage (motives and skills) of the community.

The Cham Silk project is created by Documentation Center of Cambodia in 2021 and later was supported financially by TIKA through the Embassy of Turkey to Cambodia. The purpose of the project is to restore the silk—colors and patterns through survivors’ memory and make it as an income generation for the community. Our goal is to make it known in the country and abroad. Why recalling the silk’s colors and patterns through memory matters? After the country was devastated by the Khmer Rouge, the community started to recover in 1979. They recalled their memories of the Khmer Rouge regime, their everyday life experience, and their survival. They also recalled what happened before the Khmer Rouge and their art craft. Their stories were part of collective narrative and memory. When asked about Cham silk textile, there were some people who are able to recall this, but only a few who know how to do it. Sadly, there were a few textiles survived because those were lost or taken away by the Khmer Rouge. This is why memory is so important. It is even more important when little or no artifacts remain. People try to reconstruct their memory of the textile and recall this in a narrative setting.

As an ethno-religious Cambodian minority, the Cham were marginalized and targeted by the Khmer Rouge during its reign of terror. Over half of the population lost their lives during the genocide. Although some perpetrators have been brought to justice, the unique Cham identity and cultural heritage was ravaged during the Khmer Rouge era.