Drawing people in Cambodia

by Suhita Shirodkar

I didn’t just sketch the temples in Cambodia. What’s a visit to a place without one to the markets? The main market of Siam Riep covered a whole block. Around it’s perimeter were stalls thats old dry goods and food carts like this satay seller.

But the inside of the market is what really came alive. The fish market with crabs, shrimp, eel and fish of every size. And lots of stuff I couldn’t identify.

The chicken stalls where plucked chickens were washed and then displayed, feet up.

In the middle of it all sat this seamstress, working away at her sewing.

Stalls that sold pickle-like snacks that were super popular with locals. This lady waved a plastic bag on a stick and lit a candle to keep flies off her goods.

This man sold palm juice at Angkor Wat temple. That hollow bamboo hanging from the palm is a strainer for the sweetish juice.

I spent a morning at a little craft village, Artisans d’Angkor, a great way to see artisans working at so many different crafts all in one place.

This woman took plain blocks of wood and lacquered them in red.

When the blocks were dry, the girl on the left painted the center of every piece in flat black and the girl on the right worked on a painting on that surface.

Some pieces got real gold leaf painted on to them. This was done in a closed room with a glass window to look through.

These artisans made little copper elephants. Here, they hammer decorative patterns into the hollow sculptures.

Next, the brass pieces go to the polishers who wear cloths over their face and goggles because of all the little copper shavings that fly off their polishing wheels.

The stone and wood carving workshops used replicas of ancient sculptures and a very exact method of measuring sizes, angles and depths with calipers to replicate a piece.

Lots more sketches from the markets here on my blog and from the craft center at this link.