Insights, Myanmar 2010-2012

Medium Format

The image taken as 
an act of worship

From a Buddhist point of view a portrait, is fundamentally different from a representation of an image of Buddha which is always is aimed at guiding us towards liberation. The source is in transcendence, going beyond the physical or psychological representation.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, with the appearance of photography, the Buddhist representation has been transformed. Photography adds a documentary dimension to the image of meditation.
To photograph wise men and teachers is a natural act of a devotee. The strong personality of wise men spread the spirit of Dharma. Normally, the photographed person poses in a posture of meditation. These images are reproduced and spread in the religious community.

My intention is not to create a series of images of worship. The gap between spiritual experience and its depiction will always remain. The photography attempts to freeze a moment, which has its existence in the past. Meditation on the other hand knows only the present.

Insights, wants to reflect on our perception of time and the process of any physical and psychic transformation.

Vipassana Meditation

Vipassana means seeing into the true nature of reality. It is one of the most ancient Buddhist meditation techniques, which originated about 2500 years ago in India and spreading later to Burma where it was preserved.
The practitioner of Vipassana remains in a sitting position during an hour ore more, observing his inner physical and mental phenomena and to develop equanimity, a state of mental or emotional stability arising from a deep awareness and acceptance of the present moment. He rejects all intellectual conceptions and tries to reach understanding outside conceptual thought. The final goal of Vipassana meditation is to find liberation of all mental and physical suffering, in other words, to obtain spiritual enlightenment.