A Devata Crowned in Light and Silence
“She does not burn.
She holds the fire.”
There is an hour at Angkor Wat when the flame does not fall—it rises. Along the western gate, the last hush of evening gathers its warmth not into sky, but into stone. The devata who stands high upon that sacred threshold receives it as if it were memory returning. Not a blaze, but a consecration.
In Stillness in the Flame of Stone, Lucas Varro offers not a record, but a presence. The image was composed in reverence, exposed on large-format black-and-white film during the final hush of day. No rush. No intervention. The stone waited, and so did the lens.
In the artist’s studio, the photograph was shaped by hand—classical chiaroscuro drawing depth from the shadows, and a careful layering of gold toning returning the flame to her form. Each print is completed not by process, but by vow.
The devata lifts her offering not toward the world, but toward the fire she keeps within. Her gesture is not an act. It is a threshold.
Stillness in the Flame of Stone is a keystone work in the Spirit of Angkor series. It embodies the devotional rhythm of Varro’s analogue practice and his ongoing meditation on sacred architecture, presence, and impermanence. To stand before this image is to feel the air just before silence speaks.
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This hand-toned archival pigment print is offered on museum-grade Hahnemühle Bamboo paper in a strictly limited edition of 25 + 2 Artist’s Proofs. Each is signed and numbered by the artist and includes a Certificate of Authenticity, a printed facsimile of a field-made Chalk Study, and companion texts drawn from the Artist’s Journal.
This is not a photograph.
It is a prayer in carved light.
A silence that keeps its flame.
Also in Library
Those Who Keep the Way Open — On the Quiet Guardians of Angkor’s Thresholds
Quiet gestures shape the way into Angkor — a swept stone, a refilled bowl, a hand steadying a guardian lion. This essay reflects on the unseen custodians whose daily care keeps the thresholds open, revealing how sacredness endures not through stone alone, but through those who tend its meaning.
Multiplicity and Mercy — The Face Towers of Jayavarman VII
A new vision of kingship rises at the Bayon: serene faces turned to every horizon, shaping a world where authority is expressed as care. Moving through the terraces, one enters a field of steady, compassionate presence — a landscape where stone, light, and time teach through quiet attention.
Stone That Dreams
Bayon wakes like a mind emerging from shadow. Its many faces shift with light and breath, teaching that perception—and the self—is never singular. In walking this forest of towers, the pilgrim discovers a quiet multiplicity within, held together by a calm that feels both ancient and newly understood.
$260
Angkor Wat Temple, Angkor, Cambodia — 2021
Limited Edition Archival Pigment Print
Edition
Strictly limited to 25 prints + 2 Artist’s Proofs
Medium
Hand-toned black-and-white archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Bamboo — a museum-grade fine art paper chosen for its quiet tactility and reverent depth, echoing the spirit of the temples.
Signature & Numbering
Each print is individually signed and numbered by the artist on the border (recto)
Certificate of Authenticity
Accompanies every print
Image Size
9.25 x 7.3 inches (23.5 x 18.5 cm)
She waits high above the jungle path—still as a prayer unspoken.
At the western gate of Angkor Wat, a devata stands in stone yet lives in light. Carved centuries ago, she lifts a blossom in silent offering. The air around her is hushed. Her gaze does not hold the present—it holds the sun she once knew. She is not seen. She is felt. She is stillness in the flame of stone.
Lucas Varro composed the image in silence, just as the final warmth of day rose from the sandstone. Captured on large-format black-and-white film with a long exposure, the image was later shaped in the studio through classical chiaroscuro. The hand-toning in gold was the final act—restoring her radiance, gesture by gesture.
Printed on museum-grade Hahnemühle Bamboo paper, this hand-toned archival pigment print is offered in a strictly limited edition of 25 + 2 Artist’s Proofs.
She carries the fire
without moving.
Click here to follow her golden stillness into the Artist’s Journal.
