Hiroji Kubota, Golden Rock, Kyaikto, Myanmar, 1992
I think we need some magic in here today, and I think Hiroji Kubota's Golden Rock is just the thing. I found this image on photo-eye, and searched and searched to find out its story. And here it is, couched in a New York Times review from 1997 of the Magnum photographer's show:
"Born in 1939 in Tokyo, Mr. Kubota saw his share of death and suffering while growing up in a war-ravaged country. He has said that he is a photographer, not a photojournalist, and that he leaves the coverage of war and mayhem, corruption and repression to others. ''Out of the East,'' therefore, is a vision of Pacific Rim Asia that is both timeless, with its images of gorgeous landscapes and the pervasive influence of Buddhism, and ever-changing, showing the influence of Western architecture and popular culture and Western-style economic development.
The show's most arresting image is not of stunning economic change but of a huge rock, revered by Buddhists and covered in gold leaf, that perches on the edge of a high mountain in Myanmar. Mr. Kubota shows the sheer magic and power of the rock by cropping off its top. This golden precarious wonder sits dead center against a deep blue sky, its imposing size contrasted with six (small by comparison) crimson-robed priests kneeling to one side of it and the low dark hills below."
Everyone needs a golden idol to worship. Me, I have a pig.
Come to think of it, I also worship a very special gold sponge.
You know what's next: send in your golden idols, folks!
I think we need some magic in here today, and I think Hiroji Kubota's Golden Rock is just the thing. I found this image on photo-eye, and searched and searched to find out its story. And here it is, couched in a New York Times review from 1997 of the Magnum photographer's show:
"Born in 1939 in Tokyo, Mr. Kubota saw his share of death and suffering while growing up in a war-ravaged country. He has said that he is a photographer, not a photojournalist, and that he leaves the coverage of war and mayhem, corruption and repression to others. ''Out of the East,'' therefore, is a vision of Pacific Rim Asia that is both timeless, with its images of gorgeous landscapes and the pervasive influence of Buddhism, and ever-changing, showing the influence of Western architecture and popular culture and Western-style economic development.
The show's most arresting image is not of stunning economic change but of a huge rock, revered by Buddhists and covered in gold leaf, that perches on the edge of a high mountain in Myanmar. Mr. Kubota shows the sheer magic and power of the rock by cropping off its top. This golden precarious wonder sits dead center against a deep blue sky, its imposing size contrasted with six (small by comparison) crimson-robed priests kneeling to one side of it and the low dark hills below."
Everyone needs a golden idol to worship. Me, I have a pig.
Come to think of it, I also worship a very special gold sponge.
You know what's next: send in your golden idols, folks!
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