Broken Bodies, Disruptured Landscapes
69
The remapping of the Cambodian landscape with landmines was an extension of
Pol Pot’s campaign in isolating Cambodia from the rest of the world. Under Pol
Pot Cambodia became a virtual prison. The massive planting of landmines along
the Thai/Cambodia border was to prevent Cambodians from escaping into
Thailand. Pol Pot referred to landmines as “silent sentinels of death” and his
“eternal soldiers.”
Blind Field (Thai Cambodian border: Aranvaprathet, Prachin Buri
province)
o p G e o r g e
C
Blind Field
Gittoes’ sketch called Blind Field depicts a twenty-five-year old
Cambodian male whose name is Som Chit and personifies those Cambodians
who have been killed or injured by land mines along the Thai/Cambodian
border. The blind Sot Chit is walking along planks using his walking stick. The
water below is putrid. His eyes are closed and his sad face is scarred. In the
background is Sot Chit’s hut.^^^
When Som Chit was fifteen he was “collecting wild vegetables at a
place called Sokyim on the Thai side of the border, with three friends,” where he