On show

Part of the John McDermott exhibition at the National Museum tonight

In a brief break from my To Cambodia With Love word slog, I went along to John McDermott's book launch at the National Museum this evening with Ting, my visitor from Taiwan. It was well attended, with drinks and finger food inside and outside one wing of the museum. There was an exhibition of around 15 of the photos from McDermott's book, Elegy, in the room next to the famous bronze Reclining Vishnu. If you haven't seen the Great Vishnu, it was found underground in 1936 in a deep well in the temple precincts of the West Mebon island in the huge reservoir, the Western Baray. On show in the museum today is the head, torso and two right arms (this manifestation of Vishnu has four arms), plus several fragments. Its original size would've been more than six metres. After an hour, we popped over to the Rising Sun for Ting's first taste of British pub grub.

The Great Reclining bronze Vishnu at the National Museum

Ting taking a photo of the Rising Sun's resident giant gecko

Elegy on Angkor

The National Museum in Phnom Penh provides the backdrop for the launch of John McDermott's book, Elegy: Reflections on Angkor, which will take place this Wednesday, 27 January at 6.30pm. Open to all, the museum will soon exhibit a selection of the photographer's images in large format prints as part of a permanent installation. The coffee-table sized book, 256 pages and retailing at $75, is also on sale at Monument Books and at his own gallery in Siem Reap. McDermott's book is a definitive collection of 100 of his unique black and white Angkor photos over the last 14 years and is a must for the collector. Find out more here.

Elegy

John McDermott at The Bayon (reproduced with kind permission)

It's finally out, a book that has been bubbling in its gestation for a few years now. John McDermott's Elegy: Reflections on Angkor is a definitive collection of over 100 of McDermott's moody and dreamlike infrared photographs, taken over a period of 14 years and is in a fine arts large coffee-table format in keeping with the photographer's fine arts gallery in Siem Reap. It's 256 pages retail at a weighty $75 and you can read more about it here. If anyone wants to donate the book to me for a review, I'm available.