TITLE: Shunya XXIX


This Image is from a Collection that evolved over a period of 15 years, called Shunya.

Shunya means emptiness.

When a state of one pointed concentration is achieved, through the intense and disciplined practice of meditation, the activity of the mind comes to a total standstill and consciousness is experienced in its purest form.

It is a mystical experience beyond the intellect, where deeper layers of awareness emerge, and the profound peace found in the stillness of every heart is revealed.

We are surrounded by this stillness all the time, but we miss it, because we have forgotten our true nature.

AUTHOR: Chris Dei (United States)

Chris Dei is an award-winning fine art photographer specializing in African tribal and wildlife images that echo the startling beauty of a disappearing world. Whether an intimate encounter with the wild eyes of a lion or a sweeping shot of white wings and storm drenched skies, each work is a doorway into the simultaneous vitality and mystery of vast and magical lands. Her signature sepia tones and old world touch transport us into a time where nature’s balance and perfection were as yet unmarred. One of the few fine art wildlife photographers today, Chris’s work lifts the art of wildlife photography to new heights—she has created a portal back in time, a haunting entry-point into the timelessness of nature. Her work has been exhibited throughout the U.S., Europe and Africa and is featured in the permanent art collection of The Bennington Center for the Arts, and the Herlufsholm in Denmark, as well as in private collections of celebrities around the world. Her work consistently places in the semifinals and finals of Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the largest wildlife photography competition in the world held annually in London.

In addition to her wildlife work, Chris has spent years in the practice of an ancient form of meditation learned in India, in which the mind, intellect and emotions come to a total standstill, and consciousness is experienced in its purest form. This work is called Shunya - stillness beyond the Absolute "where deeper layers of awareness emerge and the stillness that is missed because we have forgotten our true nature is revealed". Her deeply intimate black and white landscape work appropriately called "Shunya" is a photographic journey into the recesses of the super-conscious.

Camera in hand, Chris has traveled from New York through the rainforests of the Orinoco River in South America, the African Savannah, the deserts of Saudi Arabia and some of the most remote and challenging areas of the planet. Her work has been exhibited and collected extensively and continues to receive international attention and wide critical acclaim.