In 2001, I traveled to Thailand and Cambodia. The Monk of Angkor Wat ( #3) was watching me as I was watching him.  He never flinched, observing me set up my tripod and camera and begin photographing him as I moved closer and closer.  He seemed to be in another zone-- not really connecting with me, the photographer. His gaze showed an intensity of thought and a focus that would not be distracted.  It went directly through me into some other space.

Portraits # 2,4, 5 and 13 were made in Japan in 2003. Igako Asada (#2) was the grandmother of the owner of the Asadaya Ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn in the town of Kanazawa on the Sea of Japan.  Igako’s ancestors were Samurai, the military nobility of medieval and early-modern Japan. She very graciously posed for me in her kimono and obi adorned by an emerald attached in the front.

 

Margo Davis