A Silence Older Than Time
Light drifts across the relief
like breath upon water,
touching the fallen,
the fleeing,
the one who stands alone.
There are instants in the temple when the world forgets to move. In such a pause I stood, wrapped in resin-scented warmth and wing-beat hush. The frieze before me vibrated with withheld motion: horse mid-leap, warrior mid-fall, chariot mid-dream.
I did not press the shutter with intent; the image pressed itself into the silver. In that exchange, soundless iron and cooling embers returned—transformed into a single ambiguous stance: shield raised, but to what end? Surrender, awakening, or both.
Back in darkness, I treated the negative like a prayer bead—toning with quiet washes of gold to reveal, not embellish. The resulting print speaks with the breath between conflicts, the silence no victory can erase—a silence older than time.
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, 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)
“There is a radiance that survives the clang of swords.”
A golden hush settles upon Angkor Wat’s western gallery. Here, the mythical Battle of Kurukshetra no longer roars; it breathes. A lone warrior—shield lifted—stands in the after-silence where conflict surrenders to memory. Late-afternoon light glides across the relief, awakening an inner glow that seems to rise from the stone itself.
During a solitary visit in 2020, photographer Lucas Varro waited, listening for that subtle radiance. Exposing large-format black-and-white film in a single, patient breath, he received the scene rather than seized it. In the darkroom he coaxed warmth into silver, hand-toning each print with whispers of gold that echo the canopy-filtered light of that evening.
Printed on museum-grade Hahnemühle Bamboo, renowned for its velvety surface and sustainable heart, every sheet becomes a quiet sanctuary for tone and texture. Limited to 25 signed prints (+ 2 Artist’s Proofs), the work offers permanence not only in craft but in contemplative presence.
Should this image find its way to your wall, may it stand as a still point—an illuminated threshold where stone remembers, and light speaks without sound.
Follow the quiet path into the Artist’s Journal to wander deeper into this hush.
Previously titled ‘Battle of Kurukshetra I, Study II, Angkor Wat Temple, Cambodia. 2020,’ this photograph has been renamed to better reflect its place in the series and its spiritual tone. The edition, provenance, and authenticity remain unchanged.