Gold Winner

KUTHO

Photographer

Andrea Alkalay

Category

Fine Art Photography - Fine Art / Other

Company

Andrea Alkalay

Submission Group

Professional

Year

2021

Country / Region

Argentina

KUTHO takes inspiration from a Burmese concept of merit. A common ritual undertaken by Burmese Buddhists is to cover their relics with gold leaves. Leaving a gold-mark is exclusive to male devotees for merit-making towards better karma. Women, in the guise of an impure status, are forbidden to approach. Religion and spirituality are two sides of the same coin that sometimes play antagonistic roles. All over the kingdoms of Indochina, in a similar way, monks/nuns are other topics to see the place of women in religion nowadays.

To go beyond persistent stereotypes, I think that liberation of the soul is an endless work in progress.

I care about how an offering affirms the idea of a next life and empowers us by being used as a tool for that purpose. Gold and Religion have an ancient relationship.

The series talks about Power associated to Religion and the relationship between the visible / not visible, cult/occult, and parallels universes. I use the same leaves to seal my memory with the gold light, which grace, I can not access and post a question about the duality of human nature, on those cultural orders that are such assimilated, that not seen.



These interventions are aimed at interrupting expectations and expanding our interactions with the photograph and it's meaning.

Professional
2021
Selfhood - Photography Winner

Photographer / Company

Vicky Martin

Category

Fine Art Photography - Portrait

Country / Region

United Kingdom

Professional
2021
The Fisherman At Dawn - Photography Winner

Photographer / Company

Scott Kelby Photography

Category

Fine Art Photography - Travel

Country / Region

United States

Professional
2021
Everyday Shoes  - Photography Winner

Photographer / Company

Niikolaj Beyer

Category

Fine Art Photography - Fine Art / Other

Country / Region

Denmark

Professional
2021
Blue Freedom - Photography Winner

Photographer / Company

Nathanael Cox

Category

Architecture Photography - Cityscapes

Country / Region

United States