សក់រវាងយើង The hair between us
Featuring works by Ponita Keo (Cambodia)
Recipient of the Objectifs Documentary Award, Open Category
Curated by Syaheedah Iskandar
What stories can hair tell us?
The hair between us begins with Ponita Keo’s curiosity towards her grandmother’s and mother’s relationship with their hair, unfolding into a wider search for understanding the culture of hair in Cambodian society. The visual narratives include stories of elder women shaving their heads as an act of letting go of worldly attachments to beauty imposed on women, customs surrounding hair in both traditional and contemporary expressions that defy gendered assumptions, and the everyday spaces where hair is shaped, styled, and cared for, including the widespread beauty salon industry in Cambodia.
Hair becomes a means by which gender roles are questioned, authenticity is celebrated, and life milestones are marked. Moving between the personal and the social, the hair between us carries stories of belonging, transformation, and gestures of becoming.
Presented by Objectifs
Supported by the Truth Seeker Foundation
Exhibition
Objectifs Chapel Gallery
Related Events
Artist Talk | Ponita Keo: On kinship and hair
Objectifs Annexe
Sat 11/4/2026, 4.30pm
Free Admission
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About the artists
Ponita Keo is a Cambodian documentarian and artist. She previously worked in global news media as an assignment editor, then trained in photojournalism, before moving towards slower forms of visual storytelling. Her personal work is a hybrid practice of documentary storytelling and everyday observation, often dealing with themes of soft control and personal agency. Alongside her own projects, Ponita also works in set design, writing for narrative and documentary films, and occasionally as a photojournalist.
About the Curator
Syaheedah Iskandar is a curator working with vernacular ways of seeing, thinking and being. Drawing on Southeast Asia’s visual culture(s), she looks into entanglements between the unseen and the hypervisual, and their translations across material and new media practices. Since joining Singapore Art Museum, she has worked on several projects, most recently, Elia Nurvista and Bagus Pandega: Nafasan Bumi ~ An Endless Harvest (2026), SAM Fellowship with Shooshie Sulaiman, Building a ‘non-institution’ institution (2024-2025) and Nguyen Trinh Thi’s 47 Days, Sound-less (2024).
About the truth seeker foundation
The Truth Seeker Foundation believes that education and enlightenment are the best ways to address many of the social issues we face today. Amongst the many causes the Foundation supports, it advocates for raising awareness of social and environmental issues through photography.