I want my country to develop rapidly. As a Khmer artist I must contribute to this process by preserving Khmer identity as the basis for the country's modernisation and integration into
a globalized world.

The Apsara with the face of Preah Brum (the Hindu god Brahma) represent the Khmer culture as well as the four basic moral precepts of conduct (compassion, empathy, joy at another’s happiness, sincerity). The Apsara has many arms holding various implements of art and this invokes Bisnakar, the celestial architect who represents all Khmer artists. Two of the Apsara's arms are brought together with the palms joined in the traditional form of greeting, welcoming all visitors to Cambodia and symbolising the country’s openness and desire to integrate into the world after years of isolation and civil war. Her remaining arms hold artefacts representing the various arts of painting, sculpting, singing, dancing, architecture etc. that brought Cambodia fame and recognition in the past. Depicted around the Apsara are signs of a growing tourist industry with airplanes, buses, boats, bullock carts and the famous temples of Angkor. In the back-ground is a representation of Cambodia in the form of a map with the Tonlé Sap Lake. Ensconed in the heart of the Apsara is the city of Phnom Penh, marked in red as the political centre of modern Cambodia. Roads, rivers, canals and railways all run through the city like streams providing the requisite infrastructure of Cambodia’s modernisation and participation in the globalisation process.