A Flame Held Upright
Light gathers at the ridge of his ribs before it fades. It lingers for a moment at the lifted arm, then falls—hesitant, like memory nearing pain. There is silence in this corner of the wall. The warriors beside him surge forward, but he waits, dancing alone.
His form reminds me of a flame held just before the wind takes it. Not heroic. Not sorrowful. Just utterly present.
In the studio, I shaped his outline as one would trace the last warmth of a hand once held. Light became breath, then shadow, then breath again. What remained was not a warrior—but the stillness before becoming.
He raised his hand—
not to strike, but to remember
that the body too is prayer.One heel lifts
off the stone
where thousands fall.He dances
not as hero,
but as the one who burns
a little brighter
just before he vanishes.
Also in Library
The Stone Is Not the World
A contemplative Angkor essay on how surviving stone has shaped the way Angkor is seen — and why the vanished world of wood, water, labour, smoke, roads, bodies, weather, and devotion must be allowed to return around the temples in What the Stone Hides.
The Consolation of Not Being Separate
There are moments when the world refuses to become personal. The rain falls on the day you needed sun. The illness does not pause because someone is loved. The sea does not soften because a child is afraid. And when the thing prayed against happens anyway, it can feel as if the world has abandoned us. But perhaps what has failed is not the world’s care. Perhaps what has failed is our idea of care.
The Face That Looks Four Ways
The faces of the Bayon have been called Brahma, Lokeshvara, Jayavarman VII, and Vajrasattva. This essay examines the evidence behind each theory and argues that their deepest meaning may lie in a royal-Buddhist synthesis: compassion given the scale of empire.
$895
Angkor Wat Temple, Angkor, Cambodia — 2020
Limited Edition Archival Pigment Print
Edition
Strictly limited to 7 prints + 2 Artist’s Proofs
Edition Number
This listing is for the first numbered print from the Large Collector Edition: 1/7
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
28 x 28 inches (71.1 x 71.1 cm)
In the hush of Angkor Wat’s storm-washed corridors, a lone dancer stirs the stone. He is carved into the great Mahabharata relief—a Kaurava soldier, mid-stride, one hand lifted not in violence, but in invocation. Though his fate is sealed, the gesture endures.
The wall around him surges with warriors, yet this figure holds the eye. His pose is graceful, vital, filled with a beauty that mourns its own vanishing. He dances not for triumph, but for remembrance—for the spark that flickers just before it is lost.
Lucas Varro encountered this moment in silence, and rendered it with equal care. Captured on large format black-and-white film with a long exposure, the negative was later shaped using classical chiaroscuro techniques. Each print is hand-toned by the artist to coax forth the radiance buried in the stone.
This is a museum-quality archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Bamboo paper. The edition is strictly limited to 25, with 2 Artist’s Proofs. Signed and numbered on border recto, each piece is crafted as a contemplative threshold.
He lifted his hand,
and the centuries stood still.
Click here to enter the Artist’s Journal and follow the echo of his breath.