Jean-Michel Gallet: Exploring Cambodia in Photographs

“Capturing the spirit of Cambodia in the early 1990s and later,” the online exhibition Through the Eyes of Jean-Michel Gallet: Exploring Cambodia in Photographs hosted on Bophana Center website since May 2025 showcases the patient, always empathic documenting of rural life in Cambodia through — so far, as more material will be added — 27 ​“diaporamas” (still slideshows) crafted by an expert in agricultural development who decided to turn to photography since his first immersion into Cambodian realities in 1991.

Jean-Michel Gallet has definitely a knack for observing and connecting with people at work, and while he started to document traditional practices in farming and fishing he willingly fell under the spell of their rich cultural life and the natural beauty of the environment they inhabit.

From the demanding and vanishing ​‘floating rice’ cultivation to the persistence of cattle use in farming despite of the growing mechanization to the ancestral fishing techniques involving giant nets manned by dozens of villagers, processes are sequenced in explicative shots labelled in French — text over photo, which often disturb the harmonious images. And as the country entered modernity at an ever more faster pace, new occupations linked to new activites and growing urbanization created new walks of life that awakened his interest, for instance peddlers for tourists or scravengers.

Since this quite ethnographic outlook is applied to trades and practices that are somehow doomed by technology and social development, there is a hint of nostalgia in some of Gallet’s photos he himself calls ​“cartes postales” (postcards), images as time capsules of something that will soon disappear. Yet his approach is never judgemental or backward-looking, and you feel how deeply touched by the humanity, resilience and stamina of the people he observes. 

In its present online state, the susbtantial photographic material is not easy to navigate, as each series is displayed on a different webpage, without any search tool by theme or keyword. That might become a real challenge when the online collection continues to expand, and especially if the author decides to add some of his documentation on other ASEAN countries, in particular Vietnam and Indonesia. 

1 to 6) From the Cambodia collections, covering multiple provinces and aspects. 7 – 8) 2 photos from the series Peddlers in Hanoi (Diaporama 97 – 2) [© Jean-Michel Gallet].

1 to 6) From the Cambodia collections, covering multiple provinces and aspects. 7 – 8) 2 photos from the series Peddlers in Hanoi (Diaporama 97 – 2) [© Jean-Michel Gallet].

1 to 6) From the Cambodia collections, covering multiple provinces and aspects. 7 – 8) 2 photos from the series Peddlers in Hanoi (Diaporama 97 – 2) [© Jean-Michel Gallet].

1 to 6) From the Cambodia collections, covering multiple provinces and aspects. 7 – 8) 2 photos from the series Peddlers in Hanoi (Diaporama 97 – 2) [© Jean-Michel Gallet].

1 to 6) From the Cambodia collections, covering multiple provinces and aspects. 7 – 8) 2 photos from the series Peddlers in Hanoi (Diaporama 97 – 2) [© Jean-Michel Gallet].

1 to 6) From the Cambodia collections, covering multiple provinces and aspects. 7 – 8) 2 photos from the series Peddlers in Hanoi (Diaporama 97 – 2) [© Jean-Michel Gallet].

1 to 6) From the Cambodia collections, covering multiple provinces and aspects. 7 – 8) 2 photos from the series Peddlers in Hanoi (Diaporama 97 – 2) [© Jean-Michel Gallet].

1 to 6) From the Cambodia collections, covering multiple provinces and aspects. 7 – 8) 2 photos from the series Peddlers in Hanoi (Diaporama 97 – 2) [© Jean-Michel Gallet].

Entry photo: Collecting sheaves of rice in Udong area, 2013 – 2014 (from Diaporama 30 by Jean-Michel Gallet).