We were lucky to catch up with Peap Tarr & Lisa Mam Graffiti Cambodia recently and have shared our conversation below.

Peap Tarr & Lisa Mam , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I’m originally from AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND , but later grew up in the Inner City of Sydney, Australia in a neighborhood called Glebe which was close to the city , Glebe was an interesting place to grow up and I went to Glebe High. The first section of Glebe was a mixture of trendy little shops , local Food stores and Dairy’s or in the States known as Bodegas in New York City or the equivalent of a convenience store , just to put that into perspective. That was the Main Street known as Glebe Point Road, but once you head off into the Back & Side streets , in that time which was the 90’s Glebe was made up of many Government housing , which was affordable housing for Families just getting by , I lived in a one bedroom apartment with my family which was just near a park and had a Church near by. This is the time I started to get more heavily into HipHop Culture , which I picked up on since I was a little kid with American culture spreading all over the world , but what caught my attention was Hip Hop Music and all the elements that came with it from Breaking , to the DJ , the MC and then the Graffiti Artist , it was a culture that spoke to all of us inner city kids , what we saw on TV through music videos and Tape, Vinyl and CD covers and what was being talked about through rhymes in the music was very relatable to us and how we were growing up. It felt like we had a voice through hearing the music and also participating in the culture that was also forming in Australia and New Zealand , in Sydney we also had heavy influences from the inner city UK Culture as well. Another crazy part of Glebe is that if you walked further in which was the other side of Glebe there were wealthier houses and people who could afford a good decent standard of living. So there was like 2 sides to where I grew up and sometimes these 2 different environments collided and lead to some crazy stuff as you could imagine when there are 2 different environments coexisting. Crazy Times & Great Times! But it is also where I delved into doing Tags and trying to master it and just getting more into drawing Graffiti in my school books , this is where everything really everything began for me. Where I grew up was surrounded by Graffiti and also heavy tagging. It’s a whole story in itself at this stage in my life and being very young to becoming a young teen , growing up in this environment. Eventually I was about late 14-15 when I was living on my own at first with a friends Family then later on my own , sometimes my good Friends staying with me. So you can imagine what’s it like to grow up in this state of being which shaped me into the Adult I’am today and what lead me to my career path of becoming an Artist and being able to make a success out of my art. That was my early start into the Art & Creative realm , I’m skipping past many other things on the way. The second stage for me was taking my art more serious when I had moved back to Aotearoa New Zealand and I was raising my little Daughter Pairewa , who gave me more motivation to find the right path in life and really take my Art more serious since people both in NZ and overseas were starting to take interest in what I was creating on the street with friends , basically I was painting my own vision of my personal Graffiti , I wasn’t focused on letters or tags anymore , but mainly focused on representing my cultures which is a mixture of Being Half Khmer “Cambodian” and Also my Dad being from New Zealand and from this I created my own version of what I felt was my own version of Khmer kiwi infused Graffiti & Street Art.
This was very early 2000’s I was experimenting with mainly Black Ink and Sign writing paint for the Streets.
Black Ink on Paper , Wood , Canvas , Sign Writing Paint for the Streets and other various heavy duty paints that are easy to paint onto the wall. I didn’t use the can much because it was expensive where as paint I could go really far with it and cover large surface areas. Im raising my Daughter so I have to budget plus do the right thing! Eventually by 2015 I got a small break and I was invited to be in a Exhibition show called Artbeatz which featured many top Graffiti & Street artist from around Auckland City , this was thanks to my Mate Alex who got me in this show. My painting sold for what I earned in about 2 weeks. From this show one thing lead to another , eventually by 2007 I was invited by Hi-Fructose magazine to be in their group art show at Gallery 1988 on Melrose Ave in LA the show featured not really Graff or Street Artist but some really cool artist I did appreciate to be amongst such as Ron English , Mars 1 to just name a few and from this show I started communicating with Angry Woebots now known as WOES who was also in the show. All the while I was connecting with Chaz Bojorquez the Godfather of the LA Graffiti Scene well known for his Unique take on the Cholo Culture of Lettering. Chaz has been a great inspiration to me and has become a really great friend and someone I really look up to , so I really want to just give a big Shout Out to Chaz!!
Chaz was super kind to take me around LA and meet some of the top Guns like Retna , Revok , Saber & Push who at the time were working on their legendary show Angels Will Raise. It was crazy for someone like me being all the way from Aotearoa New Zealand & then all of sudden being in LA and Chaz Bojorquez driving me to a mini warehouse where the shutter doors were closed and some dude was at the front who let us in when they saw Chaz and then see all these legends in the game just in a warehouse painting away and seeing Retna high up on a ladder finishing off his work and being introduced to everyone, that was pretty wild when I think about it. So many great things have happened since this time & I’m forever great full to Chaz & the people from Hi-Fructose magazine plus also a great Family friend Uncle Paul in Long Beach who let me stay with him while I was in LA. When I returned back to New Zealand more of my art was starting to pop off and I worked allot with my Mate 2Toes , shout out to 2TOES!!! Fast forward to 2010 my art career was growing and I ventured back to Cambodia where my Mum had returned to since the 90’s by 2011 I met my future beautiful Wife Lisa Mam , at the time when we meet , we were hanging out and started drawing together since Lisa loved to create art, we started to collaborate more and more , all the while Lisa is also heavy into her studies at becoming a professional Dr Dentist.
We started to paint more and more around Phnom Penh eventually landing commercial jobs where we could utilize our art skills , we started getting Art Shows across the Border in Bangkok Thailand and things really started taking off for us. One job or one art show would lead to the next and our names starting really circulating on the scene between Thailand & Cambodia , soon we were getting international coverage & so this is how our story began as an Art Duo representing our Khmer Culture through our Modern take on Graffiti & Street Art & How our art path became a full time occupation for us.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

From the first question I gave some details of how I got started in my art career which eventually lead to Lisa & I becoming real dynamic creative duo of a force here in Phnom Penh Cambodia. I’ll give more details here about our projects that we became involved in , which helped elevate our art careers into becoming full-time artist.

I’ll have to start from the beginning from when I first landed back here end of 2009 in Phnom Penh Cambodia , it was truly hectic times for me at this stage and allot was going in my life , many changes & shifts but its all a matter of perspective and getting a grip on ones own situation to make it through & keep your feet solid on the ground but keep your hopes & dreams very much alive, Never give up when the going gets tough is key to everything in life.

In 2010 I did a few things in Thailand first with some old friends , one of them was a really cool painting gig my friend Woody had hooked up for me which was to paint this new Bar,Restaurant / Club place. It was a one night Gig but I got paid nicely for it , which was painting for large wooden panels in one night. I basically had a bunch of Krink Ink Pens with me and I got cracking at around 7:30 Pm & finished everything up at around midnight while the club was pumping , that was wild , I just went to town on the wooden panels and went all out. Later my friend Woes came over to Bangkok Thailand with his team & we were joined by They & BiBi from Malaysia we did a small gig in town where did live painting and sold some prints , shout out to everyone that was on that trip.

Back in Phnom Penh Cambodia I started painting around town , doing some murals , painting a new hotel , just getting things in motion. Also to put it into perspective at around this time which was between 2009 & 2010 there was not much going in Cambodia in terms of Graffiti Art Culture / Street art culture. There was some stuff up around town but nothing really local , basically it was very rare to see any kind of Graffiti.
The first actual throw up I saw in Phnom Penh was TONES , who I later became friends with. Tones wasn’t based in Phnom Penh but crazily enough we meet over in Switzerland later on. Shout out to TONES!

In 2011 I got invited to an event of a mobile phone launch & that is where I meet Lisa who I instantly fell in love with haha Lisa is Beautiful and so very talented , her Beautiful Eyes , Beautiful Smile & Beautiful personality was just an immediate attraction, what can I say!!

Soon after that event Lisa & I started to meet up more & more , we would go out and hang out together soon we were painting together since Lisa had a very creative side & I could see she had that eagerness to create , even though Lisa just took everything in strides , she would just be up for painting and making it happen like I do & we just connected on every level. We started to find some commercial success in town , we basically were on the steady grind out here in Phnom Penh City & one gig would lead to the next gig.
Which is another very important rule in the art game is to always stay constant with everything that you do , follow up on everything and follow through & complete everything that you take on. Even if sometimes people are not on the same wave length as us , just make it work and knock it out! One of the stand out moments for us in 2011 was when ZEROSY a Japanese Graffiti artist was in town visiting Phnom Penh Cambodia , he was on a Graffiti world wide Tour called Jetlag which was sponsored by Stussy Japan and Adidas originals.
Zerosy & his GF at the time Michy who was also the photographer for his tour had reached out to me about linking up and going to paint , which is what we did. We just did some quick paintings in an old factory area of Phnom Penh that was abandoned. Later Lisa & I invited them to come and have dinner at Lisa parents house where we also worked on a canvas painting together. After Zerosy had completed his world tour , he later picked Lisa & I to help design a Limited edition shirt for Stussy Japan that was only on sale in Japan, that really was a dream moment for me , since I was a teen , I had always been a big fan of Stussy , I used to buy Stussy gears when I could afford a shirt or a hat , I didn’t have heaps of Stussy because I didn’t have much money growing up , but the items I owned I cherished and looked after.
By 2012 our Shirt with Stussy Japan was released amongst 4 other Graffiti artist who Zerosy had selected to design for Stussy from the many people he had meet on his journey. Much love to Zersoy!!!

When things started to really kick off for Lisa & I was when we got invited to be artist in a VIP event at Lotus Art De Vivre www.lotusartsdevivre.com this was early – middle 2012 which was in Bangkok Thailand , the event was very interesting and amazing to be a part of. At the time the theme was Street Art & Street Food which was promoting a new restaurant at the time called Quince & till today is still going strong, since its launch which we were a part of. Quince is now amongst the best 100 restaurants in Asia.
Lotus Arts flew us over along with Lisa Mother as well, they put us up in a very nice Hotel in Bangkok plus gave us a daily per diem. We did a Live painting for them which was also auctioned off successfully that night. We had several of our artworks up for sale which they actually sold over half of them, that was incredible to experience since Art Shows can always be hit and miss when it comes to sales. We were treated very well as Artist , actually during that time the best treatment we had ever received. From that night we were asked to do another Art show later in the year which was to be held at Bed Supperclub one of the top clubs in Bangkok at the time and also internationally in the top 100 clubs around the world.
Sanya who was part owner of Bed Supperclub wanted Lisa & I to have an art show titled Khmer Wings which we both thought was the perfect name.
November 2012 was the month set for our show , thanks to our friend Elle aka DJ Orawan who also worked for Bed Supperclub at that time & for keeping the communication going between us and Sanya , helping with the logistics of the show.
Bed Supperclub flew Both Lisa & I & Lisa Mum over and put us up in a super nice Hotel just nearby the Club. The amazing thing with Bed Supperclub was that it had two different areas that were split up. One side was the Club side where everyone partied and danced away. The side we had Khmer Wings was on the Supperclub side where there were large white Sofa Like beds surrounded by an all white interior , they had the lower area and also the upper area. This was the more lounge side where people ordered food & drinks and enjoyed which ever show was happening plus Mixes from the DJ. For the November month was our show Khmer Wings and on the Opening Night of the show Media was there since we had been getting coverage also in Guru Magazine the Entertainment section of the Bangkok Post which is one of Thailands largest international English Language News & Media. Before the show had started 2 VIP Guest had already purchased Lisa large painting and we meet with them , that really set the tone for the rest of the night , where we sold more artworks , plus we did a live painting which attracted allot of attention. Eventually all the artworks sold. From that year having been in 2 successful art shows in Thailand it really put us on the path of many good things to happen. Once the word was out and we kept getting more media coverage which lead us onto more art jobs both in Thailand & Cambodia. Not long afterwards once we were back in Cambodia more people were paying attention to what Lisa and I were doing & we started painting more around town , getting more art commissions. Plus the Jobs in Thailand kept growing most notably with the Owner of Cacha Hotel & CachaBed hotel, where we painted both Hotels , one in 2014 & later Cachabed Hotel in 2017.

Another highlight along the way on our art journey happened in 3 successions , at the end of 2015 , not long after Lisa & I got married we were both invited by Digard Auction in Paris to create a large art piece to go into one of their Auctions. The event featured about 4 or 5 other Asian Artist from around the Globe who all had interesting backgrounds , but basically having a background in being involved in either Graffiti or Street Art – The Flyer Read like this “Digard Auction Paris France – Live painting with Asian Urban / contemporary Artist. Peap Tarr & Lisa Mam (Cambodia) along with Daleast (China) / Andrew Hem (Cambodia/America) / Shiro (Japan) / Suiko Hiroshima (Japan) / Tinho (Bresil,Japan) / TwoOne Japan)”
Lisa & I were flown over from Phnom Penh to Paris , it was an 18 hour Journey since we had a couple of hours layover in Bangkok Thailand , where we ventured out and almost missed our flight along with other passengers due to a delay on the Airport Train , but we all made in time. We landed in Paris early morning and it was freezing cold we were taken straight to Drouot in the center of Paris where Digard Auction is.
Had some Hot Chocolate , Hot Coffee and Croissants then not long after we went straight to Digard where we painted on the spot with all the other artist. Potential clients who were invited came along to view us while we painted and also having chats with all of us. Most finished on the day and the next they were out and about in Paris , Lisa & I plus Suiko , still wanted to add finishing touches to our canvases that we painted on , so we were taking to another area of Paris where Digard Auction keeps their secret stash of artworks and I was blown away seeing all the artworks in there , I even got to see a close of of Futura’s art canvas there not far from where we painting. That was really an amazing experience and Lisa painted Ann extra canvas as well while we were in Paris and after we finished everything we just cruised around Paris , that was a blast. I really loved that trip , all thanks to Digard Auction. The following year Lisa and I got invited to Kuramathi Island Resort in the Maldives www.kuramathi.com which is a 5 Star Resort , the owner of Kuramathi Island was working on a section with Harper Architects www.harperarchitecture.com who Lisa and I have worked together with in the past, Peter Harper the lead architect showed our artwork to the owner of Kuramathi Island Resort who loved what we do , soon Lisa and I were on a plane to the Maldives where we stayed on Kuramathi Island Resort for nearly a month painting a new section of the Island where they had just built some new restaurants & bars. We were treated extremely well and taken great care of, that was really such an amazing art trip for us both work and leisure at the same time. Once that job was completed we flew back to Cambodia and stopped by Thailand on the way and not long after we started on a new mural for the New Starbucks Flagship store in Phnom Penh Cambodia. There have been many art Jobs and Commissions since that time as we have continued to grow in this region and establishing our name in the industry out this way. Another great project which we enjoyed greatly was working with BMW Thailand and ASSAJAN Collective www.assajancollective.com shout out to my Mate Roc who we have worked on several projects together with, which have always been very fun , exciting , inspirational and innovative. There are so many other projects I would love to talk about and go into much detail about , including some cool projects with my mate Leo in Thailand , I would really need to put everything we have done so far into a book with visuals which leads me to mentioning a new exciting project that will be out next year which will be a mini book about Lisa & I journey as artist , just stay tuned to SOI BOOKS for updates on that https://www.soibooks.com
I would also like to mention my good Mate RATHA , who mentioned me & Lisa for this interview make sure you check out Khmer Ninjas https://www.khmerninjas.com

The main thing as an artist and creative is to really believe in yourself because if you believe in what you do , the confidence of that will shine through in your artwork or whatever it is that you put out there in this world, don’t ever doubt yourself and never give up. When opportunity arises and is given to you make sure you grab it and also follow through with what you do evreytime and then you will find success at anything you do in life.

Please check us out
Lisa Mam IG www.instagram.com/lisa_mam_art
Lisa Mam FB www.facebook.com/LisaMamArt
Lisa Mam Website www.lisamam.com

Peap Tarr IG www.instagram.com/peaptarr
Peap & Lisa https://peaptarrone.tumblr.com
Peap Lisa BMW https://youtu.be/WTTzzLDFv4U

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There are many story’s in this journey when times can get tough and there many instances when I had my low points as we all do in life. I have been through times where I barely had enough money and I would make sure my Daughter when she was younger no matter what would have proper food and clothing but I would skip my meal so that she could eat properly , that would be a very stressful example when times got tough but I kept my hopes and dreams alive and I just put a 100% effort into everything I did and most importantly find solutions to any problems. The main thing is to really never ever give up on what you do and just make it work , even if it seems daunting but don’t quit what you doing, sometimes you may have to work at other jobs to make your dreams work , but once you get over that part you will be on your way up and up , so never give up.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

This is an interesting one and its a topic that divides many in the creative community around the world. I always like to keep an open mind about everything and in recent times NFT’s have been the hot topic even though its popularity has dipped a bit since last year.
My first impression was that NFT’s was basically Digital Art being sold at high prices or potentially high prices which in a way is a good thing because it started giving more value to artist that create allot of Digital Art, so I saw that as a positive , but when I looked in further , it seemed that many enthusiast of NFT’s were all tied in with Crypto Currency and I was wondering are NFT’s just an excuse to boost Crypto and everything that comes with it , or was I just missing the point? It seems within the NFT community there are people who are really into it and can see it as a way to change society and how Art & Money can work in many different ways and give more power to those who participate but there are also people in it just for a cash grab and out to scam others , its the new Wave to jump on to get rich quick or so it seems.
This is a complicated topic unless you are deep in the NFT world which I’m not but I was involved in a project last year that Involved NFT’s /PFP background art & also Crypto , I worked with ROC who Created NIMIT NATION www.nimitnation.com which is in collaboration with Sandbox. Basically my part involved organising a selection of Artists from around the Globe that we admired and looked up to , most also being good friends in the art community. So I enlisted a group of artists including myself & Lisa.
This list included
Chaz Bojorquez /www.somosla.net
Askew One from Aotearoa New Zealand www.askew1.com
Jesse Hernandez www.jessehernandez.net
Finsta https://finstafari.com
Charles & Janine AKA Phat1 & Lady Diva www.charlesjaninewilliams.com
MR G www.mrghoeteart.com
Persue www.davepersue.com
Woes Martin https://woesmartin.bigcartel.com
Lisa Mam www.lisamam.com
& Myself
The main objective was for us to Create a PFP “Profile Picture” Background Artwork that an owner of an NFT could customize their background , plus add extra sticker elements almost like customizing your Sneakers but in a Digital way for the customer of the NFT PFP.
The idea aims to merge The Graffiti / Street / Urban Contemporary Art Communities with the NFT – PFP Communities and create awareness and dialogue with both communities and move forward together. I can understand from a more traditional artist point of view that this seems a bit daunting and not making total sense, but there was also a time when Graffiti & Youth Culture was seen as reckless and most of us that were involved were shunned from the mainstream and especially the Gallery and Fine Arts realm, but over time we became more understood and much sought after! But this project is not just about finding understanding and acceptance, it’s about merging creative Communities all over the Globe together and being able to help each other and also help oneself plus also being able to use our creativity to help others who are most in need. Too many times artists are sought after to help contribute to causes with nothing but a pat on the back. This project is not only looking at ways to help those in need but also to help the artist help others and in turn helping each other build our communities towards a better future. It’s a long way to go, but we all have to begin somewhere and with the NIMIT NATION project this is a great step in the right Direction.
Basically my view on NFT’s is that there is still great potential!
Please check out more of the Nimit Nation Project here www.nimitnation.com

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lisamam.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/peaptarr
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/LisaMamArt
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/WTTzzLDFv4U
• Other: Please check us out Lisa Mam IG www.instagram.com/lisa_mam_art Lisa Mam FB www.facebook.com/LisaMamArt Lisa Mam Website www.lisamam.com Peap Tarr IG www.instagram.com/peaptarr Peap & Lisa https://peaptarrone.tumblr.com Peap Lisa BMW https://youtu.be/WTTzzLDFv4U