Vigil in Stone, Breath in Silver
What endures does not resist. It listens.
At the western threshold of Preah Khan, where the sacred moat breathes mist into the still-dark hour, a single guardian keeps watch. Not with ferocity, but with stillness. The Deva—one arm weathered, the other gentled by time—leans toward the unknown with a tenderness sculpted by centuries. Yet both arms remain. They still cradle the coiled naga Vasuki, not as symbol, but as act of quiet memory.
Lucas Varro stood in that hush, knowing the image would not arrive through effort. The exposure, captured on medium-format black-and-white film, took in the breath of mist, the worn grace of stone, the slow turning of night into memory. Later, in the studio, chiaroscuro techniques helped draw forth the depth the light had whispered. Hand-toning added warmth, not colour—a gesture of reverence. The print was not made. It was kept.
Where Silence Keeps Watch is offered as an archival pigment print on museum-grade Hahnemühle Bamboo paper, in a limited edition of 25 + 2 Artist’s Proofs. Each print is signed and numbered on the border recto. The edition is small. The presence is not.
This is not a record of Angkor. It is its breath, shaped in silver.
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.
$250
Preah Khan Temple, Angkor, Cambodia — 2024
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)
The morning opens like a held breath over Preah Khan, mist unraveling across the moat until stone and water share the same hush. A guardian Deva—scarred by centuries yet unbowed—leans toward the unseen, his remaining arms still gently encircling the naga Vasuki, his silence deeper than the water below.
In that pale interval before birdsong, Lucas Varro stood motionless, feeling the statue’s weathered poise reflect the stillness within his own chest. The lens became less an instrument than a listening ear, attending to the syllables of light as they brushed lichen-flecked skin.
Captured on medium-format analogue black-and-white film with a long exposure that welcomed the drifting vapor, the negative journeyed home to the darkroom. There, classical chiaroscuro guided shadows into dimension, and careful hand-toning breathed warmth into silver so the final print might pulse with the same quiet awe that stirred beside the moat.
Printed as a museum-grade archival pigment work on sustainable Hahnemühle Bamboo paper and restricted to twenty-five numbered prints with two Artist’s Proofs, each sheet embodies a vow of presence and rarity.
Welcome this vigil of quiet stone.
Click here to follow the misted path into the Artist’s Journal.
