ABOUT
I am Cheerted Keo, creating under the name RYYSA, derived from the Khmer word ឫស, meaning “roots.” What began as a personal journey of tracing my own roots has evolved into a way of working: looking beneath the surface of a place to uncover the histories, memories and everyday stories that have shaped it.
Born in a refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border and raised in the Netherlands, I grew up between worlds. Drawing became a way to make sense of that experience, a place to express what words could not, and eventually a way to reconnect with a culture I had inherited but did not always fully understand.
That experience shaped the way I look at places today. I am drawn to the contradictions between old and new, to stories fading from collective memory, and especially to ordinary things that have become so familiar they are easily overlooked. Sometimes it takes another perspective to see something familiar differently. A building, an object, a plant, a tradition or a personal memory can become the starting point for a much larger story about a place.
Each project begins with research. I move between archives and libraries, conversations with local communities, and observations of the place itself. I collect stories, images and details as visual clues, connecting these fragments through drawing until a visual language begins to emerge: one that could only belong to that particular place.
This approach first developed through my relationship with Cambodia. Researching my own heritage taught me to question what I thought I knew and look beyond what was immediately visible. Growing up between cultures has given me the perspective of being both close to something and looking at it from the outside: a tension that continues to shape how I see and make work.
Today, I bring this approach into murals, public art and collaborative projects. My ambition is to work with communities, municipalities and cultural institutions around the world, creating artworks that grow from the places they inhabit rather than simply being placed within them.
Every place has its own stories. I am interested in what happens when we look at the familiar again.
BIO
- Born in 1986, in Khao I Dang. This was a refugee camp, set up by UNHCR on the border of Cambodia and Thailand.
- Moved to the Netherlands in 1988.
- Moved to Cambodia in 2020.
EDUCATION
- Academy for the arts and design Saint Joost, Breda, the Netherlands.
- Major in illustration and minor in fine arts.
CONTACT
+855 (0)96 255 6390
