Achieving spirituality
through contemplation and solitude has long been a popular trend and the subject
of many best-selling books, but today, according to Publishers Weekly, there
is "a passion for Western contemplation and monasticism" that is
greater than ever among readers. People are again making pilgrimages to holy
sites like Jerusalem's Wailing Wall, to India, and to Greece's Mount Athos,
and books on the subject of traditional religious practices-
including
those reviving monastic prayers and practices-are very much in demand.
That's why the timing
for the publication of award-winning photographer Xavier Zimbardo's spectacular
Monks of Dust couldn't be better.
Mount Athos' beginnings belong to the sphere of myth, but the much-visited
Greek peninsula is in fact the cradle of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, as
many eastern Europeans sought religious asylum there over the centuries. Mount
Athos is home to over 20 monasteries and 13 coenobiums; is a sacred repository
housing still unknown sources for scholars investigating theology, philosophy,
history, Byzantine and post-Byzantine art and eastern mysticism; and a boundless
museum containing invaluable treasures and heirlooms of the Orthodox tradition.
With a 
compelling
introduction by world-renowned and Booker Prize-winning novelist Barry Unsworth,
this beautiful, haunting book is a collection of Zimbardo's sublime interpretations
of photographs of Russian monks who were in residence there prior to returning
to their home country to fight against the Bolsheviks in 1917.
During a rarely granted artistic residency on the peninsula, Zimbardo discovered hundreds of photographs in an abandoned monastery. Examining them carefully through a magnifying glass, he found that the images had disintegrated so much that they were literally composed of dust; blowing on them would make them disappear completely. Zimbardo photographed a selection of images on site, never moving the pictures from where he found them. The result is an intimate collection of 75 genuine creations, astounding portraits that evoke the chasm between absence and presence, physicality and spirituality, sensuality and disintegration.
Monks
of Dust captures the essence of this holy place and the monks
who dwelled there. Its mysterious and contemplative nature, arresting photography,
and captivating design appeals greatly to those with an interest in fine photography,
portraiture, and iconography, to the enormous spirituality and religion markets,
as well as to those with an interest in Greece and its history.
About
the Authors
Xavier Zimbardo is a photographer and journalist whose work has been featured
in several European and international photography publications such as Zoom,
Camera International, and Photographers International. The recipient
of several grants and prizes, including a grant from the Kodak Foundation
and several grants from the French government, he is the author of India
Holy Song (Rizzoli, fall 2000; foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning
author Jhumpa Lahiri) and four volumes published in France:
Ladies; Xavier
Zimbardo; Vietnam: To the Country of Contrary
Roads; and The Lost Beauties.
He has had solo exhibitions of his work at museums and galleries throughout
France, including Paris, as well as in Athens, Sicily, Montreal, Milan, and
Odense. His work is on permanent display in several museums worldwide including
Paris' Bibiliothèque Nationale. He lives in Sarcelles, France.
Barry
Unsworth won the Booker Prize in 1992 for Sacred Hunger. His next novel, Morality
Play, was a Booker Prize-nominee and a bestseller in both the United
States and Great Britain. He is the author of thirteen novels, including
After Hannibal,
The Hide, and Pascali's Island, which was shortlisted
for the Booker Prize and made into a feature film. He lives in Umbria with
his wife and recently held the position of Visiting Fellow at the University
of Iowa.
Specifications
80 pages 9 x 11"
75 four-color and black-and-white photographs
ISBN: 0-8478-2330-x
Publication date: May 2001
Rights: World, all languages
$40.00
Rizzoli International
Publications, Inc.
300 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10010
Distributed by St. Martin's
Press
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