2006-1 Sacred Faces at Temples of Angkor Wat, Siem Riep, Cambodia



I photographed monks, novices, and nuns in and around the famous temples of Angkor Wat near Siem Reip, Cambodia during my two week visit in the spring. Many of these images were taken during the annual Buddhist festival of Meak Bochea, when thousands of monks and nuns gather around the temples to focus on Buddhist teachings. I was privileged to photograph several elderly Cambodian women, widowed during the brutal years of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime, who now wear white robes, shave their heads, and work as nuns in the Angkor Wat temples tending to various shrines. I was also able to visit a few monasteries housing monks and novices associated with these temples and photograph them in their own quarters.