The Roots of Reverence – Trees of Angkor
Photographs from the Spirit of Angkor series by Lucas Varro
At Angkor, the trees are not intrusions—they are companions to the sacred. Towering spung and silk-cotton trees rise from the ruins with patient grace, their roots cascading like rivers of time over sandstone thresholds and fractured lintels. Wrapped in mist or golden dusk, they stand not as symbols of decay, but of devotion—living prayers offered to silence.
The ancients built temples to last a thousand years; the trees remind us that all things return. Yet in their embrace of stone, there is no violence—only union. Root and wall, leaf and shadow, entwined in a quiet pact. These are not ruins overtaken, but sanctuaries renewed.
In this contemplative collection from the Spirit of Angkor series, Lucas Varro turns his analogue lens to these arboreal guardians. Using large and medium format black-and-white film, long exposure, chiaroscuro, and hand-toning, he captures not only the form of the trees—but the breath that moves through them. A twisting root caressing a doorway. A branch reaching toward forgotten sky. Stillness shaped by growth.
Printed in limited editions on museum-grade Hahnemühle Bamboo paper, each work is accompanied by a Collector’s Print Package including poetic writings, curatorial notes, and field reflections from the artist’s long pilgrimages beneath these trees.
This is a collection of rooted silence—where trees are not just witnesses to time, but the very breath of the sacred among the stones.
