2010, Seigensha Art Publishing, 青幻舎 Design : Toshio Yamagata
Far removed from the politicised image of Myanmar (Burma) seen from abroad, is a land of ageless beauty, tranquil skies and blissful quietude. Deep red monks’ robes, azure walls and verdant rainforests sheltered away from the outside world. A realm apart, where time almost stands still, scenes painted in eternity captured here in photographic images.
and so they dream so far and wide sleeping dreams waking dreams from birth to death now and forever on and on they dream —Mandalay, March 2009
“My wife and I first visited Saku Monastery in Mandalay four years ago when we were invited to the opening of a temple school we had helped to found with our donations. The old sanctuary was home to many hpongyi monks and koyin novices who seemed to dwell in a different time even as we shared the moment with them. Whence came their ease? Why did this land so far removed from material affluence make us so keenly aware of the richness of human life? I knew I had to photograph the place to find out. “In 2009, I revisited Mandalay with camera in hand to photograph the monks in their own time. The title yume—dreams—came to mind one sweltering midday as I was taking pictures of the boys napping on the cool cement monastery floor, their eyes swimming behind their eyelids. Orphans and children of poor families are often entrusted to Buddhist monasteries, where they take the tonsure and receive a basic education. Upon reaching adulthood, these koyin must decide whether to return to the lay world or continue on the spiritual path as hpongyi. Meanwhile, they sleep and dream—of their lives past and future, vast and various, each to each. The stillness of these hours must seem like a dream to us in our modern urbanized existence.”
from the "Photographer Interview" section of the FujiFilm homepage (used with permission)
