Bodhisattva

Sea of Buddhas, 1995
Hiroshi Sugimoto
gelatin silver photograph on paper.
24 sheets: 42 x 54cm (each)

1001 statues of buddha - Senju Kanon "Thousand-Armed Merciful Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara"


A new catalog on Kannon, the lord compassion reminded me of Hiroshi Sugimoto whose photographs take what may seem as a straightforward reality but he imbues them with a unique life. This particular work was taken at the 12th c. Sanjusangendo, "Hall of Thirty-Three Bays" Buddhist Temple, in Kyoto and consists of 24 individual shots o fthe 1001 statues. Click on the title and you can see that they can be seen as a whole, in order to see the actual "sea". It is incredibly rare to see a photograph of these statues as it is prohibited, it took him 7 years, but Hiroshi managed to get permission.

All kinds of wonderful info here, images, interviews...