Thursday, May 7, 2009

devotion.


Photographer Lisa Ross combines my 3 favorite worlds, photography, spirituality, and fiber, into a breathtaking and moving series Unrevealed, currently on view at Daniel Mahmood Gallery.



In the series Unrevealed Lisa photographs holy sites in Northwest China. The sites are wide open and deserted spaces with plenty of earth and sky to see. Visitors leave remnants of themselves with flags and scraps of their clothing on the small trees and bushes nearby. Creating a flutter of color, movement, and life in a place that seems quite desolate otherwise.


The images, printed on a very large scale, are solemnly and respectfully taken, narrative and not, and in general quite visceral experiences of both devotion and love.


The video shown with the work documents the sound of the wind in these locations acting both as something loud and seeming perhaps overwhelming but also a sound that mutes all others allowing the viewer, and in real life the devotee, to turn their ears and mind inward.


The photographs are literally breathtaking. I have never desired for a work of art quite so much before. You should make a point to see them if you are in NY you will not regret it.

you can also watch a video here.

2 comments:

Brittany | the Home Ground said...

These images are breathtaking. If only I were in NY... I want to see them.

Joetta M. said...

they literally did take my breathe away when i walked in. So moving and beautiful!