Li M.H.‘s ‘FACTOTUM’ Exhibition Gives Voice to Phnom Penh’s Workers Through Paint
EXHIBITION | April 30, 2025
PHNOM PENH –
On April 9, 2025, Chinese artist Li M.H. opened his deeply evocative solo exhibition “Factotum: The Hands and Faces of Phnom Penh” at Sra’art Studio. Running until June 12, the exhibit pays tribute to the unsung laborers whose invisible contributions shape the life of the city.
“Factotum,” meaning a person of many trades, sets the tone for the exhibition: a celebration of the strength, resilience, and unacknowledged artistry found in the workers of Phnom Penh. With bold brushstrokes and layered textures, Li captures the calloused hands, worn faces, and quiet dignity of these everyday heroes.
“Their movements are rhythmic, even graceful,” Li said during the April 30 artist talk. “These hands, though rough, are capable of creating and sustaining life. That, to me, is art.” His paintings blur the lines between realism and abstraction, between labor and performance, elevating daily repetition into something poetic and noble.
Li, who has spent the past four years in Cambodia, draws on both Eastern and Western aesthetics to express cross-cultural reflections. Factotum represents a maturation in his work, shifting from the whimsical charm of earlier series like Love, Art, and the Space in Between and #CatsInKh to more socially conscious themes.
During the talk, Li also launched a line of exclusive merchandise inspired by the exhibition, inviting visitors to carry the spirit of Factotum into their daily lives. Many attendees described the event as both moving and thought-provoking, reflecting on their own roles within the social fabric.
Open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm with free admission, the exhibition serves not just as an artistic display, but as a powerful call to see and honor the workers who build and maintain the city we live in.
