With a new museum slated to open this spring, Svay Sareth and Yim Maline of the Blue Art Center want young Cambodians to experience art as a path to freedom.

Erin L. Thompson
Erin L. Thompson, a professor of art crime at John Jay College (City University of New York), is the author of Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of American Monuments (Norton, 2022).
Why Is It So Easy to Buy a Human Skull Online?
Damien Huffer and Shawn Graham’s These Were People Once mines the illicit online sale of human remains and the social media algorithms that enable it.
Return the Stolen Artifact, But Keep the Museum Label
Naming the wrongs of the past is hard, especially when the wrongs have not yet been entirely righted, but it’s crucial.
A New York Museum’s House of Bones
The American Museum of Natural History holds 12,000 bodies — but they don’t want you to know whose.
Avoid Rome’s Tourist Crowds With These Alternative Art History Gems
If you’re planning a visit to Rome, write down your list of can’t-miss sites. Then, go to these ones instead.
An Art Thief’s Tale of Love and Seduction
Stéphane Breitwieser stole several billion dollars worth of art from more than 150 museums before he was caught in 2001.
Tsherin Sherpa’s “Corrupted” Thangka Art
In Sherpa’s art, Tibet and California, thangka and pop art, Buddha and Mickey Mouse mingle and morph to create a new visual language.
The Stories of Art History’s Detectives
The provenance researcher must be a detective, figuring out alternative ways to get at information that major participants in the trade are often unwilling to disclose.
Guantánamo’s Artists Fight for Beauty
Remaking the Exceptional allows us to feel the furious joy that emanates from those who have saved their own lives with activism and art.
Sex Tourism With Statues
Buddhist Art of Tibet: In Milarepa’s Footsteps is a cringe-worthy display of “spiritual colonialism.”
Artists’ Doomed, Inspiring Resistance to Hitler
The stories of the Red Orchestra show the power of joy, creativity, and love in the fight against the compliance, fear, and silence upon which fascism still depends.
Cambodia’s Stolen Treasures Must Be Returned to Where They Belong
And no, Cambodia doesn’t need the Metropolitan Museum’s help in preserving its cultural heritage.