Marc Riboud
Marc Riboud
"Stone faces stare at me while monks ignore me. I like the romantic nature of the forest and roots that spread like a ruthless tide on the fallen temples. There is no other way to describe Ta Prohm and Tà Som, than to see them as submerged cathedrals. You have to wander in this underwater world of hanging lianas and of callous roots that look like octopuses and snakes, immersed in the solitude of time, to understand how a civilization's treasures almost disappeared forever."
Marc Riboud traveled to Angkor five times between 1968 and 1990, first before the overthrow of the prince Sihanouk and the extension of the Vietnam war to Cambodia, then in 1981 after the Khmers Rouges’ defeat and finally in 1990. The photos he brought back from these trips are an invitation to visit the country as well as a portrait of a roaming photographer moved by the beauty of both nature and humans.Read more
In this series, Marc Riboud reveals a strange and fascinating universe where nature and culture are one. The temples of Angkor Vat are tied for eternity to the luxurious vegetation that support and deform the millennium-old structures. He also celebrates the Cambodian people by capturing the grace of their gestures, the elegance of their silhouettes, and the solemn look of a meditating teenager.
Angkor, Sérénité Bouddhique, published by Imprimerie Nationale in 1992 is an anthology of these images, which, according to Chantal Colleu-Dumond, take us on "an irresistible and royal journey, beyond what meets the eye".
