Govardhan hill, Indien

Individual trees stand above a rocky slope against an open sky. A warm band of light lies behind their crowns; green and turquoise patches emerge from deep darkness in the foreground. This photograph of Govardhan Hill builds its space through contrasts of light and shade. Small trees along the upper edge give the eye a rhythm, while the ground below appears dense and difficult to enter.

Govardhan is a sacred place in the worship of Krishna. According to tradition, Krishna lifted the hill to shelter people and animals from a storm. This cultural knowledge meets a landscape whose significance cannot be measured by its physical size alone. The photograph depicts no miraculous event, but stones, vegetation and light. It leaves open the question of how memory and belief shape a place, and how much of that can become visible in an image.