Stacie just brought an amazing-looking upcoming photo exhibit to my attention--The Searchers. Done by artists Sasha Bezzubov and Jessica Sucher, it captures a strand of Western spiritual tourism in India. The kind that you may be familiar with--the kind where sightseeing means ashrams, temples, and festivals. The type of tourism that seeks yogic, often guru-lead transformation, following in the footsteps of The Beatles, Ram Dass, Krishna Das, Elizabeth Gilbert, and countless others.

The lovely photos range from scruffy white guys in orange robes (I had to squint at a couple I thought might be ex-boyfriends), to elegant images of orchids climbing cracked walls, a haunting altar photo of Osho, and deity-scaled palaces populated with human-scale yogis. In their statement, the artists write: "we photographed transient seekers and lifetime converts, architecture in the communities they found, and the spiritual practices they engage in."

They add that this work builds on their other projects in different countries, looking at "young Western travelers visiting the developing world, their relationship with their host country, and what this means within the larger questions of history, economy, race, and idealism."

Mark your calendar and catch the exhibit:

Front Room Gallery
April 11 – May 4, 2008
147 Roebling Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718. 782. 2556
http://www.frontroom.org

And selections from the Searchers will also be exhibited with Front Room Gallery at
Bridge Art Fair
March 27 – March 30, 2008
@ The Waterfront
222 12th Avenue
& 269 11th Avenue
http://www.bridgeartfair.com

To browse the images online: www.sashabezzubov.com