article/review
benaras seen from within
Of the Elevated and the Transcendental.
Essay on Richard Lannoy's book and exhibition of Benaras¹ in New York.
Richard Lannoy's "Benaras Seen from Within" is a passionately insightful
spiritual/aesthetic inquiry on the holy city of Kashi (Benaras¹). It is more a work
of ardent love than a work of curiosity. It is more a work of the seeking spirit
than a work of art. Teeming with the elusive cosmic energy that has pervaded the
city of Kashi since times immemorial, his photographs and his insightful writings
in this book are testament to his seeking soul, his acute eye and his brilliant mind
that have fueled the creation of this monumental body of work.
Inspite of several scholarly and scientific studies undertaken of this holy city,
Mr. Lannoy's work stands out as a unique and exhaustive seeking of its kind.
For one, it is the result of a passionate dedication of a lifetime of love, energy and
effort by this acclaimed Indologist. (It has taken him about five decades to accomplish
this work). Being a trained artist, a scholar and a deeply insightful writer, his love for
the country of India and his sincere reverence for the city of Kashi¹ have all contributed
effectively to create this spiritually rich and inwardly seeking work. His lengthy span of
over five decades to research and document this book has been a boon to reflect on the
ever-changing yet never-changing cosmic landscape of Kashi¹. (This is paramount to the
unique quality of this work). Besides, it takes a deeply dedicated and spiritually aware
soul to see through the distracting and distorted layers of the teeming microcosmic city
of Benaras¹ and to reveal the transcendental cosmic city of Kashi¹. It is amply clear through
this book that Mr. Lannoy seems to be all that in addition to being a master photographer.
Through the lens, he has succeeded in capturing the elusively spiritual; the hauntingly
mythic. (This, I think, is the most difficult and worthy achievement of a photographer.)
His works in entirety are wrapped around this theme and are reflected all over in secret cues.
His visual vocabulary effuses the language of the mysterious and taunts the viewer to search his pictures. Like Henri Cartier Bresson, he is the master of the moment, but very unlike Bresson,
he is concerned with the spiritual exuberance of the picture than the merely aesthetic. His pictures
are more felt than seen. Some of his successes enjoy a brilliant quality of aesthetic, insightful and
the inwardly. Mr. Lannoy is also kind and reverent to the subject of his study. In his pictures, he
seeks for deeper moments with the grace and expectancy of an earnest and seeking student.
Pictures of the people and the abundant petite bourgeoisie are not pictures of the materially poor,
but the spiritually rich. Some of his captured moments are events of everyday life : ceremonies, ablutions, prayers, journeys....yet moments that celebrate metaphysical insight and inquiry.
Through his pen, he offers a penetrative and insightful documentation on the holy city of Benaras¹.
Steeped in myth, religion and spirituality; Benaras¹ is one of the last remaining living ancient cities
where visitors, pilgrims and scholars throng; attracted by the enigmatic energy that radiates in this place. As a peculiar convergence between the present and the past, the sacred and the profane,
this pervading dichotomy of sorts presents a very unique challenge to the inquirer and Mr. Lannoy
acknowledges this very nature by interspersing his works between words and pictures. In a sense, what cannot be conveyed with words is reflected within his pictures and what fails to be seen is
written with acuity and ardor. With this hard earned creation of a lifetime, he seems to have collected the ripest and the most mystically beautiful fruit from the sacred tree of Kashi¹.
Mr. Lannoy's book is a seminal and masterly work of an artist and intellect in search of the soul
of a cosmic city. In many ways, his works are reminiscent of the scholarly undertakings of the
pioneer Indian art historian and original thinker Mr. Ananda Coomaraswamy. Like him, Mr. Lannoy
is intuitively gifted in his ability to grasp the metaphysical leanings of his subject and writes with
a passion and an inwardly conviction that years of patient seeking and searching have granted him.
I highly recommend this book for any student of artistic and philosophical seeking.
For those in proximity to New York City, there is an exhibition of his works on display
till the 8th of April 2000 at Sepia International Inc. Galley, 148, W 24 Street, 11 Floor, NY.
1 : Benaras is a holy city in Northern India. Also reverently called as Kashi.
Essay by Lokesh Muthuramalingam
Published as a reader review, AMAZON.com, Feb 2000.