Street art festival, Cambodia Urban Art, returns for its fourth edition this weekend, displaying street murals around Phnom Penh by talented young artists from around the world.

The street pieces will mainly be found in the area around the Royal Palace and in BKK1.

The open event, which is mostly free of charge and runs for four days, aims to promote street art and discover fresh talent.

“Our festival aims to develop the street art scene in Cambodia and discover young talent. Also, as it is a free entry event, the purpose is to make art accessible to all and to share as much artistic content as possible,” said

Laetitia Troussel, a member of the organising team which also includes French artist Chifimi, whose work regularly features traditional Khmer dance.

“We paint in the city but we also organise events with dance performances, live bands, video projection and live painting sessions,” Troussel added. “We like people to do art themselves, so this Saturday we will be organising a free workshop session at FCC Mansion Heritage Bar, so both the young and adults can come paint with us.”

The event will feature 15 murals by 10 artists from Cambodia, France, Argentina and Spain. Rising Cambodian artist Davido is among them. His interest in street art originated at the first event back in 2015, saying that the nature of street art means the painters’ work is on display all the time.

“I will be doing murals [and] painting animals. One of my walls depicts [the critically endangered Southeast Asian wild bovine] the kouprey. It will be portrayed in a surrealist way. I mainly work with shades of blue, so my mural will feature that colour and tones within it,” Davido said.

The young Cambodian artist, who previously painted a giant mural of a forest featuring a tiger intertwined with a lotus, said his artwork this year will feature on walls in streets 380 and 13.

The festival starts on Thursday with a pre-opening event at Samai Distillery on Street 830 (on the corner with So-thearos Boulevard).

Cambodia Urban Art will take over Cambodia’s only rum distillery for the official launch of a limited series of freshly designed bottles by young Khmer artists. The launch features a DJ set and live painting sessions, and you will be able meet the artists while enjoying a cocktail.

Friday will then see the grand opening at FCC’s Mansion Heritage Bar, featuring a host of activities including painting, exhibitions, live DJ sets, flash tattoo displays, video mapping and surprise performances – you will also be able to meet the Cambodian and international artists.

On Saturday there will be a workshop session for young and old alike, where you can show off your artistic talent free of charge.

On Sunday, the festival’s final day, a tuk-tuk tour will take you around Phnom Penh to see all the street murals, finishing with a cold drink at Le Moon Rooftop Lounge.

Troussel expects around 3,000 participants at the event, but said that as the capital’s very streets are the gallery displaying the art, far more people will enjoy the pieces scattered around the city.

“We have a total of 15 paintings by the 10 artists, but including musicians, dancers and designers, we will have around 25 artists,” she added.

For more information on Cambodia Urban Art or to book a space, please visit Facebook – Cambodia Urban Art.