Banteay Variations

Media: photography

Number of images: 250+

24 selected images shown

Print size: 16x20 inches

Execution: 2010 - 2018

"Banteay" in the Khmer language, has been translated as a citadel or a fortress surrounding a small city.

It is problematic to photograph a subject that is well known and identified with another artist: you look like you are producing a copy (usually of inferior quality) and the image is either veneration or satire (satire being the lowest bar of entry in the visual arts; next, the representation of violence). In some contemporary work, it is described as a mash up or appropriation or a form of theft. The worst in my view is to be considered intellectually vacant: a formula already accepted because it contains an established academic view.

In 2010, while visiting Cambodia, I hesitated to photograph a pond with water lilies. My process of visualization was stopped by editing and censoring the subject. The conflict that I experienced became my motivation to take the photograph and make the series, even though for the reasons described above, it is an uphill effort to work against archetype.

This series examines the variations of light and color with one image. It is also about the concept of original versus copy, not only in the comparison to works that has preceded it, but by the fact that the image was made by a camera and transfered to a computer that no longer exist. As a result, copies of the image were found on backup media, but which is the copy and which is the original is no longer known.

Postscript: a year after completing this work, I learned that in 1923, André Malraux was accused of art theft where this photograph was taken. Malraux had removed four bas-relief devatas and was arrested when he tried to leave the country with them. They were later returned to the Banteay Srei temple.
One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #1

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #2

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #3

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #4

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #5

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #6

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #7

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #8

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #9

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #10

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #11

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #12

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #13

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #14

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #15

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #16

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #17

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #18

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #19

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #20

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #21

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #22

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #23

One of over 250 variations on a single image examing light and color from an image photographed at the Banteay Srei Temple in Cambodia

Banteay Variation #24