Instead of documenting the rapid change at the center Siem Reap, Miti’s series On the Edge looks at the outskirts of city, revealing a place caught between two worlds. His work is quiet, focusing on the relation of individuals to the landscape. In the places he photographs, there is something surreal in the air. Though the scenes aren't necessarily happy, there is a kind of rundown magic on the edge of extinction. These moments between inhabitants and landscape are a last hurrah. (an excerpt from Heyhotshot.com blog) http://www.heyhotshot.com/blog/2010/05/14/hhs-contender-miti-ruangkritya/
On the edge presents a sobering and often unnerving vision of the urban landscape by examining Siem Reap. It is one of Cambodia’s fastest growing cities – filled with hotels, shops, markets as well historical landmarks, which fuel its tourist industry and accounts for the increased number developments.
However, in this collection there is little visual reference to these sites and instead viewers are exposed to another side to the region. Away from the hordes of tourists and hectic commerce, along the outer edge and in and around the Siem Reap lies the natural, dry, unkempt grasslands, of which the major developments are yet to touch.
This photographic study looks at the relationship between the people of Siem Reap and these distinct areas – locales, which seem caught between the rural life of the past and the ongoing developments of the surrounding city.
In many of the images, viewers will find an undercurrent of tension as subjects appear at odds or displaced within these somewhat surreal landscapes, with people seem ambivalent towards the scenery, or are merely transient visitors passing through these areas that seem to be on the edge of disappearing.
This series of images aim to sheds light on the surprising and overlooked areas of Siem Reap, environments which are likely to become more compromised as the modernisation of the city continues.