Fürstenzug & Alchemy
I used Cambo WRS 1600 with Hasselblad CFV100C to make multiple images to create a stitched panorama of Furstenzug in Dresden, the world’s largest porcelein art display. The Stallhof, once the medieval venue for jousting tournaments and chivalric competitions within Dresden's Royal Palace grounds, now serves as a cultural event space nestled between the Johanneum and the Long Arcade. Its exterior wall facing Schlossplatz bears the magnificent Fürstenzug, a 101-meter panoramic mural chronicling the Wettin dynasty's centuries of Saxon rule through a grand cavalcade of mounted figures. Artist Wilhelm Walther originally created this monumental tribute between 1872 and 1876 using the sgraffito technique to commemorate the Wettin family's 800-year legacy, but deterioration from Dresden's harsh weather necessitated an innovative solution. From 1904 to 1907, craftsmen painstakingly recreated the entire composition using over 24,000 Meissen porcelain tiles, immortalizing not only the 35 Saxon nobles, princes, and monarchs but also 59 accompanying figures representing scholars, artists, tradespeople, and common folk who shaped the region's history.
Cambridge full of ghosts.
Given that Cambridge is full of ghosts, I wonder what their favorite haunts would be? The library? The Church? The cafes and bakeries around the campus? Or the Yard? I trod the same path where millions over centuries have walked. They all left the place and moved on but likely took memories of the place and people, vivid and faint, with them. Relocating many times, I have realized that one is bound to leave people and places behind, yet part of them stays with you while you leave some of yourself behind. For the caterpillar, one life ends, yet another, far more beautiful, though short-lived, ensues. Here it is to all the caterpillars. May you all become beautiful butterflies!
A glorious city in the sea.
I spent a week in Venice in March. Its my favorite city to walk with or without my cameras. A poem by Samuel Rogers perfectly frames the narrative arc of the images. The series ends with a faux-Venus statue in a storefront.
Empty Chairs in St Mark Square in Venice
Empty Chairs in St Mark Square: I was intrigued by vacant spaces – spaces that I certainly had not seen without hordes of people. The strongest presence in these images was what was absent from them.
TRIPTYCH and more at the Bridge of Sighs in Venice.
Bridge of Sighs in Venice evokes feelings of anguish and hopes of escape. I thought of these emotions in a tercet and communicated my interpretation via a triptych. This blog post discusses how I sketched my way to that.