Beat Presser: Oasis of Silence

Photograph © Beat Presser-All Rights Reserved
When Beat Presser was in late teens, he traveled through Southeast Asia, and met with a car accident in Thailand. Healed from a serious spine injury by monks in a Buddhist monastery, he vowed to do something in return, should he become the photographer he intended to be.

Between 2000 and 2004, he returned to live in Theravada Buddhism monasteries in Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, and photographed the essence of Buddhism. Oasis of Silence is the resulting photographic exhibition and book.

Presser also produced an accompanying website My Oasis of Silence allows participants to post their profile and photographs, and to interact among each other and with Beat Presser, thus creating a growing community and allowing a permanent exchange.

Beat Presser's Buddhism Oasis of Silence is well produced and its background music is haunting, but the B&W photographs are too small to fully appreciate Presser's artistry.

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Barbara Paul: Timeless Laos Exhibit

Barbara Paul photographs people of remote regions of Asia and Africa, where few travelers visit. Timeless Laos: Monks, Festivals, Village Life captures the ethnic dress, tribal and religious customs, festivals and daily life that make Laos unique. From villages to ancient ruins, from daily market life to holiday festivals, Ms. Paul's photographs provide a rare glimpse into a land that seems timeless even as the modern age encroaches.

Timeless Laos: Monks, Festivals, Village Life , an exhibit by the Westport photographer Barbara Paul, will be on display at the Rye Free Reading Room in Rye, NY from November 20 through January 3, 2008 , with a reception on Sunday, November 25, from 1-3PM.

Ms. Paul's previous exhibits have featured Eastern Tibet, Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea, Mali and other countries.

For further information, contact the Rye Library 1061 Boston Post Road,Rye, New York 10580 on (914) 967-0480 or via its website.

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