Vann Nath: Painting the Khmer Rouge - by Matteo Mastragostino & Paolo Castaldi (Paperback)

About the Book

"The true story of the Cambodian painter Vann Nath, who used his art to fight against barbarism and tyranny. In 1978, a young painter named Vann Nath was arrested by the Khmer Rouge, the violent and totalitarian Communist Party of Kampuchea that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Imprisoned in the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, better known as S-21, painting became synonymous with survival for him. Ordered, like many Cambodian artists and craftsmen, to put his talent to use to glorify his captors, upon his release he continued painting--this time, to remember and pay tribute to the victims of Pol Pot's regime"--

Book Synopsis

The true story of the Cambodian painter Vann Nath, who used his art to fight against barbarism and tyranny.

In 1978, a young painter named Vann Nath was arrested by the Khmer Rouge, the violent and totalitarian Communist Party of Kampuchea that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Imprisoned in the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, better known as S-21, painting became synonymous with survival for him. Ordered, like many Cambodian artists and craftsmen, to put his talent to use to glorify his captors, upon his release he continued painting--this time, to remember and pay tribute to the victims of Pol Pot's regime.

A story as fascinating as it is powerful.

About the Author

Matteo Mastragostino was born in Lecco on July 21, 1977. After graduating in design at the Politecnico di Milano in 2003, he began working as a graphic designer, journalist and writer.

His first comic book Primo Levi (drawings by Alessandro Ranghiasci) was published in April 2017 by Becco Giallo Publishing. The volume has been translated into French (Steinkis Editions) and German (Bahoe Books), and won third place in the Prix Révélation Bande Dessinée des lycéens Hauts-de-France in 2019.
In January 2020 he published his second book in Italy, Perlasca, drawn by Armando Mìron Polacco.
Vann Nath is his first comic book with Humanoids.
He lives in Lecco with his son Leonardo, two goldfish and an unknown number of books and comics.

Born in Milan in 1982, Paolo Castaldi creates comics as well as illustrations for magazines, publishing, and the music industry.

His graphic novels have been published in over ten countries around the world. With Etenesh (BeccoGiallo, 2011 - Des ronds dans l'O, 2016), he won the Boscarato Award in Italy as best debut author.
In 2018, he published Zlatan, a comic book that marked the beginning of his collaboration with Feltrinelli Publishing.
In 2019, he published his second graphic novel L'Ora X (Feltrinelli)--written and illustrated in collaboration with Erri De Luca, and La Buona Novella (Feltrinelli) in 2020--an adaptation of Fabrizio De André's music album, considered one of the masterpieces of Italian music of all time.