Kenro Izu: Sacred Places

photo by kenro izu

Kenro Izu's pallidium prints are taken with a massive camera that seems to wrestle the sacred onto film. a selection of Kenro's work and his gargantuan camera were recently on view at the Rubin Museum in New York. In an interview conducted on July 31, 2001, with Peabody Essex Museum director of photographic services, Marc Teatum, Kenro Izu described his artistic process," I try to use my basic instincts, like an animal sensing danger. I want to be as pure, as empty as possible and just try to document the spirituality of the place. If I can’t, then I don’t want to make another picture postcard that someone else has already taken under perfect conditions."

Kenro Izu is actively creating important contemporary sacred art that defies boundaries and borders. His image (seen above) of a Buddha in a tree at Wat Mahathat in Ayutthaya, Thailand is both mysterious and inviting. There is a profound silence in this image and an uncanny presence of breath.