Gold and Ash in Temple Silence
The stone beneath my palm held the day’s departing heat. Birds fell silent; the corridor drew one long, dim breath. Dust, rain-memory, and lichen scented the hush. Bas-relief figures—horses, chariots, warriors—rose not by motion, but by presence.
One figure anchored everything: shield lifted in an act beyond naming. A final shaft of gold traced his form, gracing sorrow with light older than war.
I waited, camera stilled, to receive rather than claim. Later, slow washes of gold and ash tempered the print, honouring that hush. Not an image of battle, but of what outlasts it: a question carried in shadow.
evening light lingers—
a fallen shield in shadow
keeps the hush of time
Also in Library
Where a Name Could Not Follow
A boy in the sandstone quarries beneath Phnom Kulen learns the first law of sacred building: not strength, not speed, but attention. Where a Name Could Not Follow imagines the life of an unnamed Angkorean stone-master whose hands helped move mountain into temple — and whose name vanished where the stone endured.
The Apsara Against the Assembly Line
In the darkroom, the print rises slowly from the tray: silver darkening into shadow, stone gathering itself from blankness. At Angkor, the apsaras offer the same lesson. Though repeated in their thousands, each waits to be seen. Against the assembly line of speed and sameness, slowness restores the soul’s signature.
The Wall That Still Holds Them
Two presences endure within a wall that no longer closes seamlessly around them. One withdraws into shadow; the other comes further into the light of legibility. Around them, fracture, erosion, and carved stone become a single field of custody, where grace survives within damage, not beyond it.
$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.