“Siem Reap is a tourist dragon that has been asleep for the last few years; now’s the time for the dragon to wake up,” said Nat Di Maggio, days ahead of the reopening of TRIBE Art Gallery in Siem Reap.
Like the majority of Cambodia’s Temple Town, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, visitors virtually disappeared overnight and business plummeted, causing many to shut down.
Siem Reap’s art scene, which was heavily reliant on tourist sales, was no different. In January 2021, Nat bid farewell to the art space in Kandal Village that TRIBE had called home since opening in December 2018 to begin operations in Phnom Penh.
However, after three years in the capital, Nat is moving back to Siem Reap to embark on a fresh chapter in a new space on the riverside. And he is confident that as Chinese New Year approaches, ushering in the year of the dragon, this year will bode well for Siem Reap – and is when the “sleeping dragon” will reawaken.
TRIBE’s journey
Nat Di Maggio, (right), co-founder of Tribe Art Gallery, stands next to artist Ponleu Prom
Nat, who ran an art center in London, had always dreamed of owning his own art gallery. In 2018, his dream came true when he and his late husband, Terry McIlkenny, took early retirement and moved to Siem Reap. On December 15, 2018, they opened TRIBE in the thriving creative hub of Kandal Village, with three Cambodian artists and five international artists on their books.
Over the next couple of years, business was booming at the gallery. During that time, TRIBE increased its portfolio of artists to represent 20 Cambodian, two Singaporean, three Thai, five British, and four American artists. He said each of his exhibitions features at least 75 percent Cambodian art.
“Then in 2020, Covid-19 appeared and Siem Reap, this huge tourist dragon, went to sleep,” Nat said. At the end of that year, he was contacted by Rosewood Phnom Penh, who asked him to put on a temporary exhibition.
From there, he received requests from a string of luxury hotels, including Sofitel and Hyatt, and managed to secure sales for the artists from all walks of life, including affluent Cambodians, expats and the Chinese.
Returning to TRIBE’s roots
“In my mind, I always wanted to move back to Siem Reap when it came back to life and started to recover,” Nat said, adding that during his time in Phnom Penh, he would return to Siem Reap every couple of months.
“It was always so quiet. Then I went last year and thought, “It’s going to be a 10-year recovery to get back to what it was. I’m just going to take the plunge”, and I decided to move back.”
On February 8, TRIBE will reopen in the 1961 building on the southwest of Siem Reap River. An art piece itself, the Van Molyvann-designed building will host exhibitions, art classes, art weekends, and art retreats.
“It’s the year of the dragon next year for Chinese New Year, and the huge Siem Reap dragon went to sleep. I think it’s time that the dragon woke up. The year of the dragon represents hope and prosperity, and in the art scene we’re always hopeful that things will take off.”
