Until just a few years ago, Boeung Kak Lake in the capital city of Phnom Penh was a prime tourist location and home to thousands of Cambodians. Today, it lies under the sand.
In 2007, a company owned by well-connected Cambodians received a lease to develop the land around the lake. Just a year after it took control, the company started pumping the landmark full of sand, making way for a high-end building project. Thousands of people were forcibly evicted in the process.
A resident of Boeung Kak rows a wooden boat against a storm moving in over Phnom Penh on July 7, 2011. The new buildings of the Council of Ministers and the office of the prime minister can be seen in the background.
The upheaval in Phnom Penh is one of the subjects of the forthcoming photography book Transitioning Cambodia, a collaboration between photojournalist Nicolas Axelrod, journalist Denise Hruby and designer Fani Llaurado. The book covers modern development in Cambodia and the effects on its society and landscape.
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Monks get ready on day four of a 10-day human rights march into Phnom Penh on National Road 6, Kampong Thom, on Dec. 4, 2013. After Cambodia’s general elections in July 2013, groups of monks took an active role in politics and promoting human rights.
Radio station owner Mam Sonando (not pictured) and his supporters clash with riot police during a demonstration in Phnom Penh on Jan. 27, 2014, demanding the government expand his radio’s reach and allow him to open a TV station. Television stations are largely controlled by the state, though foreign newspapers and some radio stations are allowed to operate independently.
Crowds gather in front of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh to pay their respects to King Father Norodom Sihanouk on Oct. 21, 2012, after he passed away on Oct. 15. The death of the late King Father marked the turning of an era, as he had overseen Cambodia since the country’s independence from France in 1953.
