Our Heart is Our Strength

This new body of work reflects my experience living and working with children in rural Cambodia through the non-profit organization I started in 2014. I teach English and art to the children of subsistence rice farmers in an area totally devastated by American bombs and Pol Pot's brutal Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s. My experience over the last year has been full of the most heartfelt joy and the most devastating sorrow. I have discovered the incredible extent of the human imagination and the strength of the human heart in a tiny forgotten village in Cambodia. 

Drawing on my previous work in cut paper, I've expanded to using color, multiple layers of paper, and collage-like objects woven into the cut paper. Many of the images are heavily influenced by the drawings of my students. Please inquire through my contact form or at contactiida@gmail.com. 

My organization can be found at www.theantipodescollective.org

Notre Coeur est Notre Force/Our Heart is Our Strength 11" x17" ink, colored pencil, aquarelle, graphite, cut paper (Photographed on a black background) by Lauren Iida

Mobius Flow 7" x 10" ink, colored pencil, graphite, cut paper (Photographed on a black background) by Lauren Iida

Longeat Hospital Behind the Lines 11" x17" ink, colored pencil, aquarelle, graphite, cut paper (Photographed on a black background) by Lauren Iida

Phnom Penh Just After the Fall 7" x 10" ink, colored pencil, aquarelle, graphite, cut paper (Photographed on a black background) by Lauren Iida

To the Moon 11" x17" ink, colored pencil, aquarelle, graphite, cut paper (Photographed on a black background) by Lauren Iida

Afraid of Being Alone 7" x 10" ink, colored pencil, aquarelle, graphite, cut paper (Photographed on a black background) by Lauren Iida

Aftermath approx 7" x 7" ink, cut paper (photographed on a black background) by Lauren Iida SOLD

View From the Balcony Atelier 7" x 10" ink, colored pencil, aquarelle, graphite, cut paper (Photographed on a black background) by Lauren Iida

Les Uns Comprennent, Les Autres Ne Comprennent Pas/ Some Understand, Others Do Not 11" x 11" cut paper (photographed on a black background) by Lauren Iida SOLD

Today I Learned to Listen to the Tops of the Trees, the Foreign Lullabies, and the Unseen Birds 8" x 8" aquarelle, ink, colored pencil, cut paper by Lauren Iida

Petites Mains I 5" x 5" cut paper (photographed on a black background) by Lauren Iida SOLD

Petites Mains II 5" x 5" cut paper (photographed on a black background) by Lauren Iida SOLD