Artist : Jill Gocher
Genre : Photography
Period : October 11 till November 31
Everyday, 10.00AM till 10.30PM
Location : Ary’s Warung
Jl. Raya Ubud.
Tel: 975053
Jill Gocher has been a travel photographer for many years. The photographs in her exhibition, “Pilgrimage”, are taken during her travels to important and historical Buddhist sites such as Kathmandu, Borobodur and Eastern Tibet. The role of the travel photographer is to capture, or to record, the people, the places and, most difficult, the spirit of the sites they visit. It is to Jill’s credit that her predominantly black and white photographs abound with local “color” and atmosphere, and possess a subtle mystery or spirituality. By dividing her show into three sections Jill has been able to display in her exhibition all the necessary facets of the travel photographer.
A series of portraits of the Khampa horse traders, monks and Drokpa nomads Jill encountered in Tibet are most striking. The subjects of these photographs are placed before a neutral background that doesn’t distract from the representations. Dressed in their native costumes, or simple priestly robes, these people radiate happiness and contentment. The photographs, with their precise framing and composition, are minimally elegant. Hands and faces emerge from sculptured costumes and elaborate jewelry glows within the folds. The subjects, and their accoutrements, hint at a rich and diverse culture. The photographs challenge our fixed perceptions of existence and time. These are timeless portraits of a timeless people.
The eroded sculptured Buddhas of Borobodur are beautifully captured in extreme high-contrast. The intense black and white grain of the photographs, highlighted by being printed on a heavily textured paper, are exercises in abstract shapes and forms, from which an enigmatic smile of the Buddha may sometimes be discerned. These lovely photographs speak of mystic antiquities and the inevitable ravages of time. By using the photographic technique of grain Jill has been able to suggest the necessity of preserving these important religious relics before nature takes its relentless course.
Light has always been used in Western Art to indicate the power of nature or to suggest an intense spiritual presence. Perhaps it was the time of the year Jill visited Kathmandu, but her studies of the Boudhanath Stupa engulfed in a dense mist are truly magical. The Stupa is barely visible through the fog. Only the all seeing eyes on top of the building are readily recognizable. The subtle use of diffused light in these series of photographs imparts to the Stupa a mysterious religiosity. It is in these particular photographs that Jill goes beyond mere documentation and achieves something bordering on the intangible. These are memorable images, and capture a haunting impression of Kathmandu that lingers in the mind long after leaving the gallery.
This collection of photographs is, according to Jill, “an ongoing pilgrimage that may last a lifetime”, as she seeks answers to the questions that shape her life. These photographic mementoes of Jill’s travels can only enrich and enlighten our own lives. Journey with Jill at Ary’s Warung in Ubud.
