She Was Not Made, But Remembered
“Some presences do not begin with form. They begin with memory.”
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At the western gate of Angkor Wat, as day exhaled its final breath, light pooled like a ritual. There, within a flame-shaped frame of stone, stood an apsara. Her body curved not with movement, but with meaning. One hand raised—half gesture, half remembering. She did not shimmer in sunlight. She emanated.
Lucas Varro encountered her not as subject, but as presence. Using a large-format analogue camera and long exposure, he made the photograph in stillness. Later, in the studio, the image was shaped with chiaroscuro—a quiet coaxing of depth from shadow. Each print was then hand-toned in gold, not to decorate, but to restore: to call back the warmth of the light that once anointed her.
Printed on museum-grade Hahnemühle Bamboo paper, the photograph holds the sacred feminine not as object, but as threshold. Her gesture is not offered to the eye. It is offered to the spirit.
Within the Spirit of Angkor series, She Who Was Not Carved is a turning inward—an image of revelation, not record.
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She stands in a flame of stone, her silence deep with knowing. Her gesture is not performance, but presence.
The photograph was shaped through analogue film and hand-toning, printed in a strictly limited edition of 25 + 2 Artist’s Proofs. Each print on Hahnemühle Bamboo paper becomes a devotional artefact—an echo of light and breath.
She is not simply seen. She is received.
Also in My Journal
A Scroll Carried by Wind
Zhou Daguan came to Angkor to observe—but found a kingdom that defied explanation. This introductory scroll welcomes new readers into The Wind That Carried Me to Zhenla: a poetic resurrection of the 13th-century emissary’s journey, revoiced with reverence, wonder, and the hush of temple stone.
The Goddess of the Golden Tower
There is a tower the moon remembers—where a king once climbed in silence, and a goddess wove humility into gold. Though the spire has faded, her presence lingers in the hush between breath and stone, waiting for the next soul who dares to kneel before the unseen.
Phimeanakas and the Goddess of Sovereignty
Within the Royal Enclosure of Angkor Thom stands Phimeanakas—the Celestial Palace. More than a monument, it is a myth made stone: where kings bowed to the goddess of the land, and sovereignty meant surrender. A contemplative meditation on sacred architecture, divine right, and the quiet power that still lives between the stones.
$250
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 x 7.2 inches (22.9 x 18.3 cm)
There are moments when Angkor does not merely reflect light—it becomes it. Beneath the western gate of Angkor Wat, as the sun drew its final breath, a single apsara revealed herself in the stillness. Carved in fluid poise, she did not seem made, but remembered—framed in a halo of fire-shaped stone, aglow with the gold of vanishing day.
The silence was thick with prayer. Cicadas slowed. Even the breeze seemed to listen. In that hush, her hand traced a gesture of unspoken offering. I stood before her not as artist, but as witness.
Captured on large-format black-and-white film using natural light and long exposure, the image was shaped with classical chiaroscuro to draw out presence from shadow. Each print is hand-toned in gold by the artist, not to add, but to recall the warmth that once anointed her form.
This signed and numbered work is part of a strictly limited edition of 25 + 2 Artist’s Proofs. Printed on museum-grade Hahnemühle Bamboo paper, it is both relic and revelation—a tactile offering of light and silence.
She is not a photograph. She is the breath before devotion.
Click here to enter the Artist’s Journal and walk deeper into her flame.
