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| Paintings by Vann Nath courtesy of Thomas Nordanstad | | TORTURED ARTISTI Will Always See Pol Pot's Face
 Vann Nath is a painter from Cambodia. In 1977, he was sent to the Khmer Rouge prison Tuol Sleng, or S-21. While he was there, the guards found out he could draw, and had him paint propaganda posters and countless portraits of Pol Pot. More than 14,000 men, women, and children were tortured and executed around him. Only seven people survived. He is one of them.
Vann Nath: In 1978, I was taken to the notorious S-21 prison. I had in my head that I was not going to live. I thought I was a dead man.
We were all in one room. We lay naked down on the floor, packed next to each other in handcuffs, and we tried to sleep.
The soldiers wore black uniforms. They were young. Some of them were only about 13 or 14 years old, but they had no mercy. Their accusation of “khmang”—enemy—was so powerful. It separated fathers, mothers, children, and siblings from each other.
Every four days, they gave us a bath. They brought hoses up from downstairs and sprayed everyone from the doorway. Each day they would take some prisoners out of my room to be interrogated. Some prisoners came back with wounds or with blood on their bodies; others disappeared. Prisoners started dying in the room, one by one. If a prisoner died in the morning, the guards would not take him out until night. If I needed to defecate I asked the guards to bring the bucket over.
I was lucky. They found out I can draw. They used me a lot to do drawings. All the time they wanted me to draw Pol Pot. They gave me his picture and I would draw. I drew him from different angles and in all different environments. But I never met Pol Pot. He never knew I was the artist that did his pictures.
I had no feelings back then. All I had in mind was to stay alive and find a way to escape. One day, I found a way. There was a big gunfight going on with the Vietnamese army. From all directions artillery was turned on Phnom Penh. In all the chaos I just broke off and made it out of the city.
I was lucky to find my wife. It was 1979. She cried as she told me that both our sons had died.
Today, I draw nature and beautiful things. I like to draw happy things, like flowers and portraits of people’s kids, as long as it brings happy memories. But basically, I draw by my feelings, so I do not only draw happy things. I also draw from memories back when I was in the camp.
AS TOLD TO CYRIL HELLMAN
 Anonymous, on Nov 10, 2009 wrote:
hope she takes it up the arse | | Anonymous, on Nov 7, 2009 wrote:
How can so many people be so apathetic? | | Anonymous, on Nov 7, 2009 wrote:
the fucking twat who wrote "does she swollow" you are a fucking sad cunt and i hope you aint got kids.....god only knows what you do to them if you have!!!! | | Anonymous, on Nov 7, 2009 wrote:
Does she swallow? | | Anonymous, on Nov 7, 2009 wrote:
I wish that was me. :[ | | Anonymous, on Nov 7, 2009 wrote:
"There is no law enforcement in Indonesia" Yeeeeeah no. | | Anonymous, on Nov 7, 2009 wrote:
You dirty, dirty monkey! | | Anonymous, on Nov 7, 2009 wrote:
orangutans are sexy | | Anonymous, on Nov 7, 2009 wrote:
i’d tap that | | Anonymous, on Nov 6, 2009 wrote:
CAN I HAVE A GO? | | Anonymous, on Oct 19, 2009 wrote:
You All Must Be From America. Brainless And Dirt. Try To Stop Smoking That Shit And Get A Life. | | Anonymous, on Oct 6, 2009 wrote:
i think some of the comments are missing the point..... going on about god and evil asians.... and its just a monkey..... fucking idiots.... i have kicked the fuck out of redneck fucks like you on a few occasions... and the way i see it you are gonna get it someday soon.. and when you do think about what i write.... people treat animals and humans like shit... and doing this to an animal is wrong and you know it.... and you will realise it when someone like me is stamping on your fucking heads you redneck cunts!!!!! ha ha... im sick in the head too... but not for monkeys... for nazi red necks.... see you soon... on a street corner near you... wankers | | Anonymous, on Sep 30, 2009 wrote:
Hey you asshole who wants to have sex with the orangutan! Go FUCK yourself. You deserve to have the fucking hell beat out of you every day and go to HELL! | | Anonymous, on Sep 17, 2009 wrote:
No it’s not. Shut up you damn hippie. | | Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote:
some people in this board think it is funny. Wait till happens to you if you think it is funny. Cruelty against animals is same as cruelt gainst humans. | | Anonymous, on Sep 7, 2009 wrote:
Hey Anonymous: FUCK YOU. Yeah YOU. | | Anonymous, on May 25, 2009 wrote:
If I paid more, can i choose the vag and the anus? or is it only vag?
Boy I would love a piece of that ass. imagine in doggy with her yelping. oh now that’d be nice | |
| Aemon, on May 25, 2009 wrote:
ha! conclusive proof that people are funny
an animal is an animal, this sort of thing is forced on real people, id say thats a tad worse. | | Anonymous, on May 25, 2009 wrote:
Michelle Obama was created in just this way. | | Anonymous, on May 24, 2009 wrote:
there is no law enforcement in indonesia???
| | Anonymous, on May 23, 2009 wrote:
So predictable that a religious person was going to take the "THERE IS NO GOD" line in the article seriously. Develop a sense of humor or GTFO. | | Anonymous, on May 22, 2009 wrote:
This is how Shaquille O’Neil was created. | | Anonymous, on May 20, 2009 wrote:
Any excuse to spread your crap around about GOD,
GOD does exist and your goal is to make sure that people don’t believe in GOD, that’s your aim.
And not all humans are evil, only a bunch of psychos, who don’t give a shit about anything or anyone.
And you probably one of them, you blame others for things that you do, Old tactic, you are exposed!!!, so shut the hell up | | Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote:
...wait a minute...
thats no monkey!
thats Michelle Desilets’ mother! | | Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote:
HAH!
look at that slutty pose she’s pulling in the inset picture!
thats one hot monkey! | | Anonymous, on Apr 27, 2009 wrote:
"If a man walked near her, she would turn herself around, present herself, and start gyrating and going through the motions."
she fucking loved every minute of it!
...dirty monkey slut! | | Anonymous, on Apr 22, 2009 wrote:
When I wanna bone an orangutan, I want to be able to feel that long, coarse hair rubbing against my belly, just like Nature intended! | | Anonymous, on Apr 9, 2009 wrote:
... some people who are leaving comments on this are just plain messed up.
But seriously, why in the world would someone try to do that.... to an orangutan? It breaks my heart into pieces, to see how disgusting and cruel some people in this world are. | | Anonymous, on Apr 9, 2009 wrote:
THAT. is f*cking twisted and disturbing. Why the hell would someone do that? Those people are MORE than mentally ill... | | Anonymous, on Mar 24, 2009 wrote:
This is one of the most epic articles I have ever seen on the interwebs, I bet the armenians could make even more money if they incorporated orangutans into their sex rings. | | | Next 30 comments > |
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