About 4 million tourists pass through the enigmatic galleries of Angkor Wat each year, stopping just long enough to take a selfie before continuing their frenetic pursuit of the next attraction the Kingdom of Cambodia can offer them.
Far removed from this madness are the monks who, although they seem to emerge from the very bowels of the temple, are in fact also tourists passing through Angkor. Unlike the hundreds of loud and hurried foreigners who pass them brusquely by (thus protagonizing a rare, live time lapse), the monks silently occupy space until they establish a connection without which, it seems, they can advance no further. In this way, slowly, they blend into the carvings on the walls, doors and hollows until they become part of the landscape and [seem to] disappear into the largest religious structure ever built.
In 2023 "17 and a half monks" was awared in the International Photography Awards and in the Monochrome Photography Awards
"17 and a half monks"
Surrounded
Learning
Thinking
Dressing Up
Watching
Entering
Discovering
Surprised
