René West
"Lizard", 2020
From the series "Mojave: Ancient Lands and Animal Stories"
Digital composite of pinhole and digital photography
Courtesy the artist

Artist statement:
Alone in the desert, I was accompanied only by the ancient sound of silence. For me, this place was exotic, uncharted territory, a primordial forest of plants and wildlife. I would make photographs in the morning, and draw mandalas in the heat of the day as a form of meditation. At first the mandalas were abstractions, but rather quickly the desert animals started appearing, and I began thinking about how fables helped ancient cultures understand the world.