Go in the water, there’s the crocodile / Come up on land, there’s the tiger

A Khmer proverb used to describe existing between crises; One will overcome an obstacle to only come face to face with another. This phrase pronounced, “Joh duc, kapeur; laurng louer, klah,” is how Cambodian American journalist, Putsata Reang begins her memoir titled, “Me and Ma.” Paralleling personal stories of familial hardship through diaspora and assimilation, Thach reimagines the saying in illustrative neon signage of an encircling tiger and crocodile caught in a Khmer ouroboros. Made in 2025 at UW-Madison Glass Department.