It’s taken yoga several thousand years to journey from a handful of monasteries dotting the Himalayas to the myriad studios of London, Lower Manhattan, and beyond. Whether bathing with holy men in the Ganges or joining the chorus of a thousand voices chanting “om,” photographer Michael O’Neill decided to devote himself to experiencing and recording the world of yoga at this critical juncture in its history.
From November 7 – January 2016, TASCHEN Gallery will exhibit MICHAEL O’NEILL. ON YOGA: THE ARCHITECTURE OF PEACE, the first major photographic exhibition on the subjects of yoga and meditation and O’Neill’s first show in Los Angeles. Opening on November 7 to a crowd of over 500 people, including art enthusiasts, passionate yogis, and O’Neill’s friends, collaborators, and subjects, the exhibition features 80 photographs alongside a selection of artifacts documenting O’Neill’s journey and the history and of yoga through the ages. The photographs celebrate both the rich lineage and the international reach, locating beauty and learning with young boys practicing the little known discipline of Mallakhamba at the wrestling grounds of Kochi as much as with some of the most influential yogis our time such as B. K. S. Iyengar, Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, and Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa and meditation masters His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and S. N. Goenka. Says O’Neill: “All I wanted to do was to pay homage to yoga’s classical lineage and understand this unique moment before it slips away.” The result is a powerful photographic tribute to an age-old discipline turned modern, global, and mindful community of 250 million practitioners.
All of the prints in this exhibition are archival pigment prints made by Adamson Editions, one of the world’s foremost digital ateliers, founded in 1979. David Adamson and his team have collaborated with some of the most interesting and influential artists working today, including Chuck Close, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Jenny Holzer, Robert Longo, and Kiki Smith.
Michael O’Neill (b. 1946) has photographed the cultural icons of his time, from Andy Warhol to the Dalai Lama over nearly 50 years for publications including the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. For the last decade he has immersed himself in the culture of yoga, turning his lens on the origins and essence of this ancient and timeless spiritual practice.
From November 7 – January 2016, TASCHEN Gallery will exhibit MICHAEL O’NEILL. ON YOGA: THE ARCHITECTURE OF PEACE, the first major photographic exhibition on the subjects of yoga and meditation and O’Neill’s first show in Los Angeles. Opening on November 7 to a crowd of over 500 people, including art enthusiasts, passionate yogis, and O’Neill’s friends, collaborators, and subjects, the exhibition features 80 photographs alongside a selection of artifacts documenting O’Neill’s journey and the history and of yoga through the ages. The photographs celebrate both the rich lineage and the international reach, locating beauty and learning with young boys practicing the little known discipline of Mallakhamba at the wrestling grounds of Kochi as much as with some of the most influential yogis our time such as B. K. S. Iyengar, Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, and Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa and meditation masters His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and S. N. Goenka. Says O’Neill: “All I wanted to do was to pay homage to yoga’s classical lineage and understand this unique moment before it slips away.” The result is a powerful photographic tribute to an age-old discipline turned modern, global, and mindful community of 250 million practitioners.
All of the prints in this exhibition are archival pigment prints made by Adamson Editions, one of the world’s foremost digital ateliers, founded in 1979. David Adamson and his team have collaborated with some of the most interesting and influential artists working today, including Chuck Close, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Jenny Holzer, Robert Longo, and Kiki Smith.
Michael O’Neill (b. 1946) has photographed the cultural icons of his time, from Andy Warhol to the Dalai Lama over nearly 50 years for publications including the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. For the last decade he has immersed himself in the culture of yoga, turning his lens on the origins and essence of this ancient and timeless spiritual practice.
