Het Bun Dai Bun: Laos--Sacred Rituals of Luang Prabang

The title phrase in Het Bun Dai Bun: Laos Sacred Rituals of Luang Prabang is a Lao expression meaning ""art project,"" ""meritorious deed"" or ""meditative exercise."" It was also the name that the citizens of the Laotian city of Luang Prabang gave to Hans Georg Berger's photography project. Beginning in 1994 as a close collaboration between the German photographer and the city's monks, its purpose was to document the Buddhist city's rituals, including New Year's processions, offerings, alms, rites for the dead, meditations and perhaps most movingly, the ordination of a teenage novice monk. Many of the subjects of these photos are looking into a camera for the first time in their lives. (June 15)