She Stood in Flame, and Did Not Burn
There are places where dusk becomes ceremony. The western gate of Angkor Wat is one of them. In that hour, the stone does not reflect—it releases. And standing in its breath was a devata carved not only in form, but in presence.
She lifted her flower like a prayer still being spoken. Her gaze neither forward nor away, her gesture neither offering nor withholding. She stood in flame and did not burn.
The photograph was composed on large-format black-and-white film as the sun exhaled its last breath across the stone. Each movement of the camera was a slow devotion. The image emerged later through chiaroscuro—shadow and light drawn out with care. The gold, hand-toned in soft layers, was not embellishment. It was reverence made visible.
She Who Remembers the Light marks a threshold within the Spirit of Angkor series. It does not depict history, but presence—revealing the sacred feminine not as symbol, but as witness. She does not perform. She is.
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She does not shine—she remembers.
This devata at the western gate was not carved for the eye, but for the spirit. Her stillness holds fire. Her offering is breath.
The image was shaped with great patience. Captured on large-format film, exposed in silence, and hand-toned in gold. Each print is a singular gesture—printed on museum-grade Hahnemühle Bamboo paper in a strictly limited edition of 25 + 2 Artist’s Proofs.
This is not a record. It is a presence.
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.
$270
Angkor Wat Temple, Angkor, Cambodia — 2019
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
11.5 x 5.8 inches (29.2 x 14.7 cm)
She rises from the sandstone like a breath returning—crowned in fire, cloaked in stillness, and held in the last light of day. This is not a carving, but a remembrance.
At the western gate of Angkor Wat, where the jungle exhales and shadows lengthen, a devata stands poised. The air hums with cicadas. Light falls not from above, but wells up from the stone itself. Her gesture—one hand raised in offering—feels less like movement than a memory held.
Made on large-format black-and-white film in the hush of evening, the photograph was later shaped using classical chiaroscuro and carefully hand-toned in gold. The process was devotional. The goal: not to capture, but to consecrate.
This signed and numbered print is rendered on museum-grade Hahnemühle Bamboo paper and offered in a limited edition of 25 + 2 Artist’s Proofs.
To dwell with her is to enter the silence where light still lingers.
Click here to enter the Artist’s Journal and follow the gold her spirit remembers.
