Songs of the River: Portraits from Burma. The artist's photographs emphasize the spirit she finds in the Burmese landscape, and the courage with which people face the lives they are given to live. She is able to effortlessly communicate a strong connection to the people she comes to know and admire in these distant, exotic lands.
Songs of the River: Portraits from Burma
Monica Denevan roams the world with an open heart, with deep empathy, and a
loaded camera ready to capture the lives of the people she meets in exotic,
distant lands. She has traveled to many of the most remote areas of South
America and Asia, but feels especially drawn to the people and landscape of
Burma. She finds it very natural and easy to befriend the indigenous people,
and has a unique talent for developing and maintaining deep personal
relationships with the individuals she meets. Her rich and intimate
photographs are portraits of friends, living their lives according to the
traditions and customs of their culture.
'I want to transcend the depiction of individual lives,' Denevan says, 'and
acknowledge their participation in a grander scale of the human condition. I
hope to photograph the extraordinary resonance humming within otherwise
ordinary lives.' Her photographs emphasize the spirit she finds in the
Burmese landscape, and the courage with which people face the lives they are
given to live. She is able to effortlessly communicate a strong connection
to the people she comes to know and admire in these distant, exotic lands.
White Room Gallery invites you to enjoy this intensive look into an exotic
landscape few of us will ever have the privilege of seeing first hand.
Denevan gives us an insider's view into the lives and souls of a culture
very different from our own, and shows, through her innovative vision, all
that we have in common with mysterious people living half way around the
world‹people who share, exactly, our own common dreams and aspirations as
member of the human race.
Image: Monica Denevan, 'Across the River, Burma', 2004, Gelatin Silver Print,
15x15"
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 22, 6:00- 8:00 PM
White Room Gallery
8810 Melrose Avenue - West Hollywood