(A)

Holy Places around Atlanta was my senior project at Emory University for my minor in Photography. It was a continuation of my previous photo-journalism project [The Buford Highway Projec], which captures the everyday life of average immigrants. In this project, I decided to document their spiritual practices outside of their regular lives. Atlanta has a diverse community practicing religions from Tibetan Buddhism to Hinduism. Countless religious celebrations are carried on throughout the city year-round. I’ve always had a deep interest in the immigrant community in the US, I was deeply captivated by the divinity of these sacred landmarks .

I used photography to discover people and their relationship to religions. I think of my photographic practice as a journey to discover communities with diverse religious background, and to store the sentiments I received from visiting these specific sacred sites.

(B)

I visited many Asian religious communities in Atlanta, including the Hindu Temple of Atlanta, Drepung Loseling Monastery, and Wat Loa Buddha Phothiasaram.

I presented my photographs with audio I recorded during a meditation practice, and a journal I wrote throughout the 2 months I worked on the project. I hope to share the previous moments of my adventures so the viewers can experience these places in an organic way inside the gallery.