Cambodian Limbs

In his own words, sculptor John Buckley described his work as a kind of armour, a way of making sense of the unbearable realities he encountered while working in Cambodia (1991) “It has taken me many years to make sense of the living nightmare I saw…”

The sculptures he created were not only memorials, assembled from found materials and objects once used to make artificial limbs by and for those maimed by landmines, but also emotional shields forged from shock, empathy, and the need to transform trauma into form.

The film extends this act of translation. Through the camera, we witness the fragile space between the survivor, the artist, and the artwork a triangulation of pain, witnessing, and making. The lens does not look at suffering, but through the artist’s response to it, revealing how creation can both protect and expose.

Visually, the film traces Buckley’s gestures, materials, and silences, allowing the viewer to feel the tension between endurance and vulnerability honouring the fragility of those who survive, and of the artist who bears witness on their behalf.