The Dralas
On display in the South Gallery at the Columbia Art League
5.27 - 6.21
Artist Statement
In my photographic art practice, my bodies of work are produced from recurring explorations of intimate details from the natural world. Landscapes emerge from flower parts and disappear into curves of natural light. Horizons blur in abstraction. I reveal stillness, looking for meditation to answer back through a pinhole film camera or a raw digital file, without additional alteration or processing.
It is within this context that this ongoing series emerged, seeking impressions and collecting patient offerings from elements revealed all around me. These impressions can often be very personal and exist in a space that is not easily defined by words. The late Tibetan Buddhist master Chögyam Trungpa teaches of this as the "Drala Principle." He refers to it more specifically as the elemental presence of the world that is available to us through sense perceptions. A fine example is outlined below.
"A friend of mine was once with her family in upstate New York. It was winter, and they had hiked into a forest. The landscape was one of cold and snow, whiteness and silence, birch trees. Astonished by the pristine beauty, my friend realized it was her duty, not just to notice this beauty, but to stop and linger with it. To let it penetrate her.”
-Introduction to The Drala Principle, by Bill Scheffel
Within this practice, I photograph to approach a moment or object, and allow the images to speak to me. Not in a grand way, but from the subtle and supple manner of tone and meaning that otherwise escapes. I am moved to print and hold the image in my hands to reveal the moment and share something naturally occurring.
The outcome is a library of images and moments that aim to preserve the Drala. Observe a more intimate view of the ebb and flow of life, its remarkable beauty, and share in the moments that open up when one takes more time to look closer at the world around.
Artist Bio
Emily Koonse is an award-winning artist working in film, video, and still photography. Her photography work started in a high school darkroom where she experimented with black & white 35mm still film developing and printing techniques. After receiving a BFA in Filmmaking from the University of North Carolina, she worked as a film editor on feature films and documentaries for twenty years. Emily continues to generate photo and film projects through self-imposed artist-in-residence experiences and collaborations to explore subjects including meditation, motherhood, and isolation during “the new familiar” of the global pandemic. Her narratives reveal truths about nature, place, and self. She works in abstracting imagery, experimenting with analog and digital art techniques to examine storytelling with an emphasis on exploring personal subject matter and the natural world.
