Motionless Journey: From a Hermitage in the Himalayas
The hermit tradition is part of many spiritual practices, and Ricard, a Buddhist monk and a photographer, had the good fortune and grace to retreat for a year in a hut in the foothills of the Himalayas near Kathmandu. His “motionless journey” was an immersion in light. In silence he watched the sun, moon, stars, wind, and clouds transform the valley and mountains. His saturated, contemplative photographs are at once magnificent and subtle, the burnished stones, trees, birds, and mists reminiscent of classic Asian landscape art, the gradations of color like those of Rothko. Prayer flags and rainbows, golden beams and deep shadows, each radiant, meditative image is accompanied by a quote. From the Dalai Lama, “The question is not to know the meaning of life, but what meaning I can give to my life.” From Gandhi, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” To spend time with Ricard’s exquisite photographs of an exalted place is to dwell in wonder and gratitude. --Donna Seaman