In 2020, Kim Hak travelled to Japan on a fellowship from the Japan Foundation Asia Center with the goal of meeting and creating work with Cambodian communities in Japan. Alive IV, the fourth chapter in the series, is structured around the stories of 15 Cambodian families, which include both former international students unable to return to their country due to the turmoil in Cambodia in the 1970s, and those who came to Japan as refugees in the 1980s having been displaced by Khmer Rouge.

Their possessions, such as watches, family photos and earrings, operate as vessels for memories from their homeland, their journeys to escape and their experiences as exiles. Kim Hak visited with each family, in Kanagawa, Tokyo and Saitama prefectures. First he interviewed them, and then photographed important objects they had retained during their journeys of resettlement. Alongside the photographs Kim Hak also created a written text that tells the story of the object, and by extension, the person.

ISBN: 978-0-473-64517-5