The Threaded Path, Season 1 Episode 2: Fonki
| Fonki: The Ancestral Echoes of Painting on Walls | |
|---|---|
| Series | The Threaded Path |
| Episode | Season 1, episode 2 |
| Recording type | Podcast episode |
| Host | Amara Goel |
| Guests | Fonki |
| Released | September 12, 2026 |
| Language | English |
| Duration | 53 minutes |
| Subjects | Visual Arts & Design; Migration & Diaspora; Family & Intergenerational Life |
"The Ancestral Echoes of Painting on Walls" is the second episode of The Threaded Path, in which the host Amara Goel talks with the muralist and visual artist Fonki. It was released on YouTube on September 12, 2026, as part of the first season, Phnom Penh: City of Rooted & Returning Voices.[1][2] The episode describes itself as a conversation about intergenerational transmission, ancestral continuity and play.[1]
About the episode
Fonki traces his triple heritage: born in France to Cambodian parents, raised from early childhood in a diverse Montreal neighborhood, and first taken to Cambodia as a small child, a trip he still remembers in vivid images. His great-grandparents stayed with the family for long stretches and filled his childhood with tales of old Cambodia. He found graffiti at fifteen through Montreal's hip-hop scene, took his artist name from a French rap group his brothers played at home, and explains why he treats play as the core of any serious practice.[1]
He and Goel discuss his 2012 return to Phnom Penh and the documentary about it, The Roots Remain. He explains why he chose not to cover the city in tags, and how he adapted graffiti to Khmer culture instead, drawing on the layered walls of pagodas and the idea that walls carry the testimony of time. Painting elders and ancestors, he says, took apart the ego of the young writer who only wanted his name seen. He also describes watching the film again recently with his six-year-old daughter, which brought five generations of his family together on one screen.[1]
Later he talks about his parents' role in Montreal's Cambodian community, his mother's advice on breaking inherited burdens one link at a time, and his gallery at Factory Phnom Penh, which he plans to turn into an artist residency. He hopes for more Cambodian artists earning a fair living and more Cambodian patrons funding them, and he names a recent joy: painting his first mural with his daughter, at a festival in Battambang.[1]
Watch and listen
- YouTube: Fonki: The Ancestral Echoes of Painting on Walls (53 minutes)
- The Threaded Path: trailer and episodes
Also in this series
- Chef Nak: Food is Just a Hook (Episode 1, September 12, 2026)
- Fonki: The Ancestral Echoes of Painting on Walls (Episode 2, September 12, 2026)