There is an incandescent reality behind and beyond the world of appearances. The power of beauty to function as a mirror and a portal to this radiance is the inspiration behind Invincible Light. I first experienced this light in a near-death vision following a traumatic brain injury. My life shattered. I woke up to a person I didn’t know and a world I couldn’t comprehend. Beauty saved me. Beauty is a power for healing and awakening. Beauty is an entryway to the radiance I witnessed. To this day, I walk in two worlds. The first of cognitive disability and complicated health. The second of boundless beauty and wholeness. When I take photographs, I’m in a non-verbal state of reverence and devotion, in communion with what one might call the divine. It is the only time I experience life free of my brain injury. We have all shattered in unique ways. We’ve navigated the outside world with a smile while crashing inside. The simultaneous presence of beauty with awareness of deep pain is key to my art. It is an offering by and for those who insist on light when despair seems the inescapable path. Invincible Light is printed on translucent vellum, expressing our fragility and strength. To reference the pure light of reality, I illuminate the images by hand-applying 24K gold leaf. Entering the photographs, and being enveloped by them, is an invitation to our true radiance and the unceasing source of invincible light.

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About
Mahala Mazerov (Santa Fe, USA) is an interdisciplinary artist, synthesizing connections between fine art, Tibetan Buddhism, and eco-spirituality. Her projects address the personal and the universal and provide paths to awakening. She utilizes various substrates and alternative photo processes to enhance the meaning of her work. There is a photograph of her at age 6, wearing cat-eye glasses and holding a Kodak Instamatic camera. She has been taking photographs ever since. Mazerov’s work has been seen worldwide, from her early work as a photojournalist to her emergence as a fine artist. Mazerov lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She portrays flowers in her photographs, in gardens designed to nourish birds, butterflies, native bees, and her art.