FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — May 2017
EXPERIENCE ANCIENT TEMPLES OF ANGKOR WAT THROUGH A POET’S EYES
NEW POETRY AND PHOTOGRPAHY BOOK ABOUT TRAVELS IN CAMBODIA AND KHMER CULTURE
bd-studios.com is pleased to present Angkor Wat, the new poetry and photography collection from luke kurtis. Angkor Wat was born from the author’s travels to Cambodia where he explored ancient temples and Buddhist monasteries. The book, which is also a tribute to Allen Ginsberg’s 1968 book of the same name, is a suite of twenty poems illustrated by kurtis’s striking black-and-white photography. The poet will also release a spoken word album to accompany the book. Both the book and the album will be available in August.
”kurtis has peered through the crowds of tourists and found a window on to the meditative spirit and beauty of Angkor—no small feat these days,” says John McDermott, a photographer nicknamed ”the Ansel Adams of Angkor” by the New York Times. ”His pictures and words evoke a place of peace and wonder,” McDermott continues, ”and capture the complexity of elements that preserve the magnificence of a once-great empire.”
Indeed, kurtis hopes his book will expose readers to traditional Khmer culture as well as Cambodia’s modern history of war and genocide. ”When I talk about my time in Cambodia, I find most people are not familiar with what happened there,” kurtis relates. ”As a poet, I’m not trying to teach history or represent things in a literal manner, but I do think poetry can help create a global consciousness.” This idea is evident throughout the book, such as the poem ”tender heart,” where kurtis writes: ”civilization is not an undying reign / neither to the ancients / nor in modern days.” The poet contemplates how the once-great Angkorian civilization faded away and describes our urge to revive its ”entombed splendor.” So, too, he warns, the same may happen to our modern culture, making Angkor Wat not only a celebration but also a warning.
To ask for images, request an interview or appearance, or for more information, please contact us (https://bd-studios.com/contact/).
luke kurtis is a Georgia-born interdisciplinary artist. Angkor Wat is his latest book in an ongoing series that combines photography, writing, and design, following INTERSECTION and The Language of History. He lives and works in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
bd-studios.com is the art and publishing studio by luke kurtis. We publish artist’s books and exhibition catalogs, organize exhibitions and performances, and more. We perform creative experiments and transform them into bold works of art.
NEW RELEASES
Available August 2017
Angkor Wat: poetry and photography
by luke kurtis
Get paperback from Amazon and other booksellers; ebook on Kindle, iBooks, and Play
Paperback, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 236 pages, ISBN 978-0-9890266-8-0
Angkor Wat: a spoken word album
by luke kurtis
Get on iTunes and other stores and streaming services; CD on Amazon