Elephant photo by Gregory Colbert

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I just saw this magnificent photograph hanging at Sausalito's Cavallo Point Lodge. It's a piece from Canadian artist Gregory Colbert's Ashes and Snow collection of photographs, films, and novel consisting of a fictional character's 365 letters to his wife written during a year-long journey. The photographs, including the one that mesmerized me, are approximately 11.5 x 8.25 feet and printed on handmade Japanese paper using an encaustic process. Ashes and Snow traveled around the world in the mid-2000s for display in the Nomadic Museum, a temporary structure assembled (and often redesigned) at each port that hosts it. According to Wikipedia, Ashes and Snow was "the most attended exhibition by a living artist in history," counting more than 10 million people who experienced it. I wish I would have been one of them! "Ashes and Snow"

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Jenonymous

Pinehead,

I will send you a virtual kiss if you can post a link to purchase the soundtrack!

I was fortunate enough to see it in NYC–if you think the photos are moving, you should have seen the movie loop that was in the exhibit space.

My very first take when I heard of the exhibit (when the friend I went with told me about it) was “oh, what fatuous crap, some rich guy traveling around the world taking pix of exotic folks and beasties, yawn.”

And then I was blown away. As in almost in tears it was so amazing. My friend and I stayed for 2 whole loops of the film and spent hours poring over the huge photos.

Would LOVE the soundtrack.
- Anonymous
  
  Here’s the soundtrack: http://www.ashesandsnow.org/en/info/index.php?module=page&idpage=40&id=7&idcategory=9
  
  what I want are prints, anyone? anyone?
  
  -jp
Anonymous

Haunting photo, though is it just me, or does the middle child have an small elephant on her head?
Anonymous

The movies I saw at the exhibition were stunning. Stared at them for what felt like hours. An amazing experience. Nice te see it back on BoingBoing. I also have a DVD with the movies.
unclefishbits

Cheers. It is at Fort Baker in Sausalito just under the golden gate bridge. It’s available 24 hours a day for free. Check it out!
pahool

I saw it twice when it was in Santa Monica. Once near the middle of its stay and once closer to the end. There was a very different feel at each visit. The first one was less crowded and people were roaming the cathedral-like structure in a sort of awed silence, as mikerbaker described above. There was a very reverential feeling to the experience and I found it deeply mesmerizing.

My second visit near the end was more crowded. There was more talking and it felt more like being in a mall than the sacred space I felt I was in when I first attended.
chris23

I was enchanted by that one at last year’s TYF. I imagine the young monks taking lessons in patience and perseverance from the elephantine teachers.
bruddacag

I saw this a couple years ago in LA, and I lived near the pier, so we saw it being assembled. It’s so industrial on the outside with the shipping containers. There’s an interesting contrast between the stark industrialism of the exterior and the peaceful, low-lit interior. The photographs fit the setting really well.
Jenonymous

Anon–THANK YOU!

You can get posters and books on the site…makes me kick myself for not having the $$$ for prints when I saw the show (they were on sale there).
Anonymous

As a jaded New Yorker, I didn’t expect much when I went to see Ashes and Snow over on the Hudson, in a giant stack of shipping containers designed by Shigeru Ban. But it was truly wonderful and deeply moving, in ways that escape words and that has stayed with me to the present day.
The video is worth seeking out too, and it features music by Lisa Gerrard and others.
Anonymous

saw it in NYC. sorry. beautiful images, true, but the epic-scale presentation had as much artful soul as tony robbins curating a mister brainwash exhibit.
ManOutOfTime

I remember when the shipping containers showed up by Santa Monica Pier. I watched them getting stacked up and wondered if they were really being formed into a structure? Then faces were hung from the sides. Then by the time I realized I was missing something amazing it was too late. Seems like a brilliant artist — excited to be hearing more after all these years.
mack

I saw the Santa Monica Pier showing, and found it to be one of the most gorgeous, utterly over-produced things I’ve ever experienced. Stunning and completely forgettable in its way, like a Soviet military parade.

It was a bit like having been a spiritual hermit for years, then walking into a cathedral for the first time and having its scope and pomp completely batter the faith right out of you and sending you out the door an affirmed atheist.

Seriously – gorgeous creatures, gorgeous people – all made up, coiffed, aestheticized and tweaked beyond any meaning or worth.

And I *like* elephants, rusted steel and immense black and white photos. Just, I guess, not all in the same place.
Anonymous

I took my daughter and niece to the exhibit in NY a few years ago. The unique prints themselves added to the beauty of the photographs.

It was held in a “building” composed of shipping containers which made the experience even more amazing.
Anonymous

Question – Does anybody know if these animals trained for these photos by being beaten?

I would hate to think that art would be involved with animal cruelty.
Sapa

This photo is an absolute gem I love it
Xopher

OM GANESHAYA NAMA.

Sorry. It had to be said.
Anonymous

Saw the show and loved it. Was anyone else bothered by the fact that many of the photos were obviously shopped? Not sure how I feel about it still. It didn’t take away from the beauty of the work, but it felt kinda “fake”.
mikerbaker

I saw it in Santa Monica. The temporary museum built of shipping containers was huge, beautiful and amazing. The space inside was cathedral-like. The photos were peaceful, gorgeous, other-worldly. Everyone spoke in whispers. There was a lovely little film of people posing as they did in the photos. I loved it. But there was just a tinge of cynicism there too. In the end, it felt a little over-produced and commercial. There was a bit of new-age kitschy-ness as well. But, overall, it was pretty amazing.
ideami

anybody knows if this will be coming around San Francisco in the near future? would really like to see actual exhibit itself instead of just seeing the photos online, thank you :)
Anonymous

I worked on that project. The art is owned by one of the investors who was simply kind enough to loan it to the hotel. It’s amazing art, rare in how moving it is. If you get the chance to wander the property, the entire lodge is an art museum, which is often overlooked. Every single room has different art. The guest room and public spaces have everything from Imogen Cunningham, Ruth Asawa, or Arno Minniken. Here’s a link: http://dev.globi.ca/cavallopoint/arts_publicexhibits.php

It’s so awesome to have been part of. Those two main lodge buildings are one of the best museums on the west coast and it’s free to the public.
Anonymous

Yet another who saw it in NYC on Mother’s Day. I took my mother actually, who is usually indifferent to art. She was mesmerized, as was I. It truly is a beautiful collection of images, ideas and experiences and the nomadic museum was the perfect setting. We bought some of the books they had for sale, and they are really worth seeking out if you haven’t run across them. I think they capture the feeling of the exhibition very well. May we have more Ashes and Snow experiences in our lives…
pinehead

I thought this was the place I first heard about Ashes and Snow. Ah well. It was a lovely exhibit. I still have the soundtrack from it lying around here somewhere.
- krawll3r
  
  Don’t doubt yourself, pinehead. I believe you are correct! This is also where I first heard about the exhibit – when it was touring. If that soundtrack doesn’t have DRM, upload it! (It probably does, though.)
  - pinehead
    
    Are you sure? I searched the site but didn’t find anything older than this entry. It wouldn’t surprise me if we heard about it here first.
    
    If I can find that soundtrack, I’ll upload it. As I recall, it was a collection of different artists. As anon @1 said, Lisa Gerrard was in there, as well as at least one Indian singer… it’s been awhile. I’ll have to go look for it.
    - unclefishbits
      
      Full music credits:
      
      music
      Michael Brook
      Patrick Cassidy
      David Darling
      Robert Een
      Lukas Foss
      Djivan Gasparyan
      Lisa Gerrard
      Heiner Goebbels
      Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
      Temple of Sound
      Cantor Samuel Vigoda
dia sobin

It’s an amazingly wonderful image, David.. thank you!
krawll3r

I was one of the lucky ones that got to experience this. While the photos are amazing themselves, it is nothing in comparison to the feeling from the exhibition. It was so unbelievable that many were calling some of the images fake, but there is no arguing the film that he created. It was peaceful, zen, larger than me, larger than life. And, yes pinehead, I believe you are correct that this exhibit was posted on Boing Boing when it was touring. I would definitely see it again!
Anonymous

I spent a month on an ice breaker in the Antarctic Peninsula with Gregory and his team in February 2010. A more self actualized visionary individual, I don’t think I will ever meet.
juanpa

Ah, Gregory Colbert. I swear I don’t know what people see in those pretentious photomontages.

For me they are the visual equivalent of the “TATATATA” moment in the soundtrack of a summer blockbuster when the hero finally arrives to the summit of a hill, and the camera zooms out to show us the great ancient pyramid ahead.

But… to each his own, I suppose.
Anonymous

Ashes and Snow was installed in my city, Mexico City. It was free and I couldn’t enter due the huge amount of people visiting the exposition.
Charlie Lesoine

I thought the photos were great when I saw it, the Lawrence Fishburn narration was a bit too cheesy.
Anonymous

The show was assembled in Santa Monica, near the pier, and was magnificent. It was a total environment of visual and aural art.
The use of cargo containers as the structure and shipment vehicle was pure genius. Probably the most brilliant artistic achievement of the last few decades.
Anonymous

It was an interesting exhibit for sure. The lineups were interesting. The screaming kids were interesting. The pushing and shoving was interesting. I was more fascinated by the security guards and the soccer moms telling their bored children to look at the elephants.

The work is astonishing and breathtaking visually. But as a photographer and art lover myself, I feel it’s a bit contrived and is almost crossing that dorm room poster line. Not my taste but a grand effort for sure.

Ya really didn’t miss much IMO. I rather see a really small gallery presentation that housed some really provocative stuff. Though being the container gallery on the dock that these photographs were housed in was a GREAT installation when viewing the exterior. The gallery was more powerful than the work itself.
Anonymous

Saw it in NYC. Loved the photos but loved the building and the sequence of viewing even more. The detail in the materials, the light levels, the long view inside the temporary building on the pier. The seats made of stumps. It was brilliant, and I love the concept of the nomadic museum. Shame it hasn’t made the rounds for other displays.