In Izu’s delicately textured and detailed explorations of Angkor Wat, the ancient carved stone structures re uncharacteristically portrayed as delicate and vulnerable, gradually being reclaimed by the elements and the giant banyan trees…

Opening Reception & Book Signing: Thursday, December 11, 2003, 6 – 8:00 pm

In Izu’s delicately textured and detailed explorations of Angkor Wat, the ancient carved stone structures re uncharacteristically portrayed as delicate and vulnerable, gradually being reclaimed by the elements and the giant banyan trees…

Opening Reception & Book Signing: Thursday, December 11, 2003, 6 – 8:00 pm

Sepia International is pleased to present Kenro Izu: Passage to Angkor. Kenro Izu’s remarkable photographic vision, one which melds spirit and stone and the inevitable movement of time, is featured here with platinum/palladium prints of Angkor Wat, the extraordinary temple and architectural masterpiece built in Cambodia by the monarchs of the Khmer Kingdom between the 9th and the 13th centuries. In conjunction with the release of Izu’s new book, Passage to Angkor, and organized in association with Friends Without A Border, all print sales from this exhibition will benefit the Angkor Hospital for Children. Using a custom-built large format view camera that produces a 14 x 20 inch negative, Kenro Izu has been creating unforgettable images of ancient temples and stone monuments from around the world since the early 1980s. In Izu’s delicately textured and detailed explorations of Angkor Wat, the ancient carved stone structures are uncharacteristically portrayed as delicate and vulnerable, gradually being reclaimed by the elements and the giant banyan trees of the surrounding forest. Just before dawn, the towers of Angkor Wat are inky shadows etched against the paling indigo of the tropical night. The first hint of dawn washes the sky with pink and reveals delicate mists wreathing the stones. The sun rises behind the temple’s luxuriant forest, and the first rays gild the pinnacle of the central sanctuary. Gradually the light slides down the towers, bathing the walls and galleries, and strengthens from apricot to gold as the sun enriches the spectrum until the great monument glows from within. It is a transcendental experience. -Helen Ibbitson Jessup, Passage to Angkor Born in 1949 in Osaka, Japan, Izu studied photography at Nihon University, College of Art in Tokyo from 1969 to 1970 and moved to New York in 1971. He began working with the complex platinum/palladium process shortly after 1981, and is today considered one of the finest practitioners of this early photographic medium. His work is included in numerous major collections, among them the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. Kenro Izu is the founder of Friends Without A Border (www.fwab.org), a foundation which provides medical care for children in Cambodia. Passage to Angkor is published by Channel Photographics, 2003, with an introduction and poetry by Helen Ibbitson Jessup. For more information on the book, please contact the gallery and/or Ms. Sarah Marusek.

Sepia International Inc.
The Alkazi Collection of Photography
148 West 24th Street, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10011

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