The Weight of a Silent Gaze
The air before dawn was thick with sandalwood and stone. My breath slowed as I entered the gopura, matching the rhythm of monks passing ahead. The statue stood waiting—eight arms unmoving, sequins catching the last star of night. His smile had not changed in centuries.
He did not look at me. But presence has weight. It settled just behind my ribs—where memory keeps its oldest keys. Some moments cannot be framed; only received. I positioned the tripod not to act, but to listen. One long exposure became a vow.
In the darkroom, I shaped the silence with chiaroscuro. Not to replicate the moment—but to honour its hush.
The sequins held night’s last star.
A monk passed, barefoot, unnoticed.
His saffron robe touched air like wind through silk.Stone remembers patience.
Light offered nothing; it waited.
Then the shutter—and the statue—
did not move,
but something eternal did.His smile remains.
Not joy, nor sorrow.
Just the balance that outlives both.
Also in Library
From Mountain to Monastery
Angkor Wat survived by learning to change its posture. Built as a summit for gods and kings, it became a place of dwelling for monks and pilgrims. As belief shifted from ascent to practice, stone yielded to routine—and the mountain learned how to remain inhabited.
Why Theravada Could Outlast Stone
Theravada endured by refusing monumentality. It shifted belief from stone to practice, from kings to villages, from permanence to repetition. What it preserved was not form but rhythm—robes, bowls, chants, and lives lived close together—allowing faith to travel when capitals fell and temples emptied.
The End of Sanskrit at Angkor
The final Sanskrit inscription at Angkor does not announce an ending. It simply speaks once more, with elegance and certainty, into a world that had begun to listen differently. Its silence afterward marks not collapse, but a quiet transfer of meaning—from stone and proclamation to practice, breath, and impermanence.
$250
Angkor Wat Temple, Angkor, Cambodia — 2020
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
8 x 8 inches (20.3 x 20.3 cm)
Morning gathers in the western gate of Angkor Wat, where a single thread of incense rises toward a darkened ceiling, and the eight-armed Vishnu—Ta Reach—emerges from shadow into a slant of newborn light. Sequined saffron cloth, garlands, and weathered sandstone combine not into sculpture, but into presence.
Pilgrims pass barefoot across the worn stone floor. A monk lights a stick of joss and bows beneath the vaulted hush. Here, the gods do not sleep—they listen. The artist lingers in silence, waiting not for a perfect frame, but for communion. When the shutter opens, it is in reverence.
Captured on medium-format black-and-white film, the image was shaped in the studio through classical chiaroscuro techniques and hours of patient hand-toning. Each gesture on the print speaks with its own voice—depths of shadow, glints of light, a carved smile that contains both creation and dissolution.
Printed as a hand-toned archival pigment work on Hahnemühle Bamboo paper, the result is a tactile hymn—each piece signed, numbered, and offered in a strictly limited edition of 25 with 2 Artist’s Proofs.
Let this silent guardian keep watch within your calmest room.
Previously titled ‘Ta Reach Vishnu, Study I, 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.
