Ash and snow, you are beautiful.

In the Venice Biennale in 2002, on the former site of a Renaissance shipyard, the exhibition hall of 13000 square meters was all used to show only one person's works.

This is the largest solo exhibition in European history. 130 unprocessed large-scale original drawings are hung around the exhibition hall. They are like movie screens with only light and shadow and no sound, just like life blooming in the air, ethereal, silent, pure and natural. ...

This is the exhibition called Ash and Snow.

Forget the complexity of the world of mortals for a while, and carefully stare at the life, people and things, mountains and water in front of you. ...

This is the stunning appearance of Canadian nature photographer Gregory Colbert after ten years of silence.

During 13, he went out to sea 27 times, covering almost every continent on earth, including Egypt, India, Sri Lanka, Namibia and South Africa, and cooperated with nearly 30 kinds of animals, including wild dogs, elephants, whales, manatees, cheetahs, orangutans, falcons, ibis and cranes. , but in Gregory's

We may have been out of this big family for too long, and we proudly call it the natural evolution of life; We shut ourselves in a reinforced concrete castle, isolated from the outside world, which we proudly call a civilized way of life. It's time to calm down and take a good look at our friends and our home.

Year after year, day after day, we seem to forget what we should be like, who our friends are and where our home is. ...

The subtle relationship between us and nature is poetically presented in Gregory's paintings. What he captures is not an image, but a spiritual story, the call of life again and again. ...

Elephants are running, children are reading, eagles are hovering over temples, women are dancing with cranes, hugging cheetahs, and want to lie in your arms. ...

Beauty, suffocating beauty ...

Besides beauty, it is also beauty. ...

Here, there is no confrontation and conflict between man and animals, no fear and danger, only greetings between life.

Gregory was born in Canada, 1960. Canada is quiet and peaceful, which is really outstanding. ...

It is said that Gregory has a pair of ears and is called "elephant". His mother was worried that he couldn't stand it, so she gave him ear plastic surgery, but he always thought he had something to do with elephants. So when he shoots around the world, he first chooses to respond to the call of elephants, which is why elephants are the most prominent group in his works.

He said, "Where the animals are, I will go. They inspire me, give me happiness and arouse my admiration for miracles. "

This is the harmonious vibration of nature, this is the symphony of life.

The arrival of the elephant made me calm, the flight of the eagle made me free, the waiting of the cheetah made me feel safe, and the whale swimming with me made me forget the time and space ... At that moment, you were me, I dissolved in you, and you and I were one.

Gregory once said, "What matters is not the words on the paper, but what is engraved in the mind."

These reformed works have also made Gregory a living artist and have the largest audience in his exhibitions.

When everything in nature responds to these greetings with silence, everything is Zen and everything is my inner desire.

Gregory said: "When shooting, I am often shocked by what I see. When you see an elephant with a child, you don't have to worry that the child will be hurt. "

"In Sri Lanka, hundreds of adults are killed by elephants every year because they are too close to its migration route. But only one child died in the accident, and the elephant didn't hurt the child. There is no conflict between them. "

Perhaps this is the law of getting along with each other in the biological world, or perhaps this originally exists in the harmony of nature (children), and adults are too complicated. In his view, nature has its own way of life.

"When I stared at the elephants in the jungle for a long time, I heard richer voices and opened more hearts. My heart is like my hometown that has been dusty for many years, but now I hear the sound of the window lattice opening. "

Gregory, together with the aborigines in the mountains, forests, grasslands and deserts, has no language, but tries to feel their emotions through gestures, facial expressions and animal conversations, so that they can get familiar with me, invite me to meet with me, feel their voices and movements, and experience their emotional expression.

These photographs were not released to the public until 2002. By the time the filming was completed in 2005, Gregory spent 65,438+03 years filming the movie "Ash and Snow".

A documentary with no dialogue but breathtaking beauty.

"Feather turns into fire, cremation into blood, blood is injected into bone, bone flows with marrow, marrow turns into ash, and dust returns to snow."

When we stare at these photos calmly and face eternity and sacredness, we may understand or wake up. This world is not only exclusive to human beings. Humans are used to condescending, arrogant, possessing, plundering and conquering, without humility, dedication, protection and submission.

Many people will question the authenticity of these photos. Gregory just wanted to say, "You don't need to beautify nature. The world has existed for billions of years, and human beings are only newcomers. "

He said: "When I started writing Ash and Snow, I wanted to explore the relationship between humans and animals from the inside out. By finding out the language and poetic sensibility that all animals have, we try to rebuild the common ground that once existed when humans and animals lived in harmony. "

Many people also say that this is the most advanced pose, and the cost is very high. He also said: "It doesn't matter whether this is a posture or not. Our daily life is just one performance after another. In other parts of the world, those moments when heaven and man are United may be the truest call of the soul and what we should be. "

"When I see your face, I want to see those calm eyes."

Of course, the shooting was full of dangers, but the process made Gregory unforgettable. In the Pacific Ocean, he swam with sperm whales weighing more than 55 tons, completely getting rid of the shackles of oxygen tanks. When the life that has existed for 50 million years comes to him, diving is no longer important, and those encounters are natural arrangements.

When the whale looked at him and seemed to swallow him up, Gregory was not afraid: "If something happened to kill me, it wouldn't be a tragedy. Because I am doing what I love, even if I lose my life, it is actually a gift. "

How do you feel when you hear these words and see these pictures? If you can't do this posture, what kind of posture do you want in your life? Are you ready?

Yes, it is too difficult for human beings to go back to their former homes. We have become another kind of nature, and we have almost lost the opportunity to live in harmony with nature. We wantonly destroy and kill not only animals, but also ourselves. We have long been far from respect and equality, and we are the source of all contradictions and conflicts.

We are by no means masters of nature.

But we are still his children, and we have never been forgotten. In the years of life, where will we go?

When you begin to appreciate it, beauty has blossomed.

Because you are beautiful.

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