I am a photographer living in south-west England documenting ritual and worship across 3 countries.
I studied documentary photography at Bridgwater College to City and Guilds standard and, following a successful career as a psychiatric nurse, over the last decade have established a comprehensive body of work as a photographer across a number of countries.
My interests include documenting Ritual and Worship in India and Morocco, documenting wider cultural aspects of both countries, and portrayal of historical cultural aspects of the United Kingdom. The notion of ‘Sacred Landscapes’ fascinates me.
My choice of camera systems for image capture include Nikon DSLRs and Fuji GFX mirrorless cameras and I use Epson for digital printing.
I am currently introducing opportunity for the download of digital images from my website at a number of resolutions at accessible prices, and structurally that process is now in place. I am reformulating my website to reflect that development, am extending Galleries to differentiate work from those different countries where all images are able to be downloaded. I will also choose the best images from those Galleries for download on the Purchase pages, where the Galleries will not be differentiated. To support the downloads, I am considering appropriate Licensing requirements.
At a later date I am also hoping to offer a bespoke fine art archival giclee prints using contemporary Epson printing technology.
Updates of progress of both services will be recorded on my Blog .
Please contact me by email at geoffreybillettphotography@gmail.com
August 2023
Exhibitions
2002 Balanced Like Scales : Brewhouse Theatre and Art Centre
This project involved organising several workshops for people who had lived most of their lives in institutions but had recently moved into community living. I supported people in taking portraits of each other using a Bronical 6×6 camera and professional lighting equipment. Analogue monochrome capture.
2005 White Graves : Yeovil Arts Centre
This project involved driving from north to south Spain over All Souls Weekend, stopping at pre-planned cemeteries to photograph activities throughout the weekend. I began in Comillas and finished at Tarifa, visiting cemeteries including Burgos, Salamanca, Caceres, Montefrio, and Cordoba. Analogue monochrome capture.
2006 Romeria de el Rocio : Bridgwater Arts Centre
This project involved joining the Sevilla Hermandad ( Brotherhood ) on a 5 day walk from Seville to el Rocio in the Donana national park, photographing religious activity and the physical effects of strenuous pilgrimage on participants. Analogue monochrome capture.
2013 Gateway to Nirvana : Art Tea Zen Cafe Langport
The photographer spent 8 days at the Kumbh Mela, India, building a portfolio of beautiful photographs which portray something of the devotion, colour and fervour of Hindu faith. He spent time with the mysterious Sadhus and walked by day and by night through crowds of devotees bathing and undertaking riverside arti fire rituals, making photographs under the artificial sodium lamps of the Mela and as the sun rose over the sacred Ganges. These are photographs of a multitude of people at prayer within a country often described as the most religious on Earth. Digital capture.
Publications
2006 From Earth to Air
This is a book featuring monochrome documentary images of tradition and culture throughout Andalucia, focusing predominantly on gypsy culture, flamenco, the Spanish pre-occupation with death and Semana Santa activities. It is complemented by poetry written by Federico Garcia Lorca including traditional lyrics of cante jondo songs and siguiriyas he adapted. The book will be available for sale soon .
2013 Gateway to Nirvana
The Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India, has been described as the greatest religious gathering in the history of the world. On its holiest day, Mauni Amavasya, in early February 2013, an estimated 30 million people came to bath in the holy water of the river Ganges. Bathing continued throughout the day and the night as pilgrims hoped to achieve liberation from the hardships of re-incarnation.
The photographer spent 8 days at the Mela where he stayed with the mysterious Juna Akhara, a group of sadhus who are the most mysterious and enigmatic of all the Akharas, building a portfolio of beautiful photographs which portray something of the devotion, colour and fervour of their faith. He also walked by day and by night through crowds of devotees bathing and undertaking riverside arti fire rituals, making photographs under the artificial sodium lamps of the Mela and as the sun rose over the sacred Ganges.
These are photographs of a multitude of people at prayer within a country often described as the most religious on Earth.
2016 Manikarnika
Manikarnika is a photobook which visually portrays the ancient rituals and traditions surrounding the cremation of Hindus on the banks of their beloved river Ganges in Varanasi. On a series of wood lined terraces reputed to be constructed by the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu, hundreds of bodies are brought every day for their final journey. Consumed by the fire god Agni and delivered into Moksha, or freedom from the eternal cycle of life and death, the bodies have central role in the chaotic theatre which ensues. The role of the white clad nearest relative, or Karta, who assumes responsibility for many of the rituals is especially documented. The images took a month to collect as the photographer was intimidated by the untouchables, or Doms, the only people allowed to work with the deceased in the Indian caste system, who demanded large sums of money to take photographs. With the support of families these photographs were taken. It can be viewed here .
2016 Tirtha
The notion that a whole city can exist on a spiritual fault line where the boundaries between the secular and spiritual worlds are almost indivisible can surely only occur in India. Varanasi, the city of Shiva and considered by Mark Twain to be older than time itself, claims to be such a city.
Pilgrimage is not only common in India, the Hindu faith itself requires its followers to make long journeys to temples, mountains, river confluences and religious gatherings. These journeys not only serve as acts of worship but also assist people on their spiritual pathways to Nirvana. Many of these end points of devotion and pilgrimage are considered to be tirthas, a term denoting an auspicious location where the dimensions between the temporal and the spiritual world are in constant collision, as if two inter-continental tectonic plates are incessantly rubbing up against each other. The whole city of Varanasi is considered such a location.
My photographs are my attempt to portray Varanasi as a tirtha where powerful yet benevolent Indian deities exist coterminously with millions of living people in a city who’s primary spiritual function is to provide a platform for deliverance into another world and another life. Deities patiently watch as people go about their lives, watching from walls, inside shops, from the very fabric of the city, as time slowly unfolds and humans age and eventually reach their own personal time for deliverance. The deities are portrayed as absolutes and the humans as liminal, temporary and fey figures in the midst of a fantastical world. It can be viewed here .
2016 Blue City
Blue City is an abstract photographic depiction of the city of Chefchaouen. The city is renowned for most of its buildings being pained blue, a practice believed to have been started by its Jewish inhabitants who believed the colour blue depicted heaven. The photographs were taken in October and November 2015 after a good friend had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. It can be viewed here .
Internet
International Brigades Memorial Trust
In 2015 I joined a conflict archaeological excavation of Belchite, a town mostly destroyed in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 but ordered to be left as a ‘living memorial by General Franco to the conflict. Organised by archaeologists from universities in England and the UK under the stewardship of the International Brigades Memorial Trust, here is an article describing that excavation with photographs on the International Brigades Memorial Trust’s UK website.
Bizarre Culture
In 2015 I submitted a series of articles describing travel in India, Morocco and Spain for publication to Bizarre Culture e-magazine. Those articles, all originally with photographs, can be found here
Current Projects
- To continue documenting significant Worship and Ritual sites and spiritual occasions on the River Ganges
- To continue documenting cultural aspects of Morocco, including Muslim festivals and Sufi .
- To continue documenting aspects of British ritual landscapes
- To document urban expressions of UK sub-cultural groups