Fazal Sheikh, "Ether"

In a departure from his usual, politically charged photographs, Sheikh presents pigment prints of images taken in Varanasi (also known as Benares), the pilgrimage city on the banks of the Ganges River in northeast India. Hindus believe that dying there releases the soul from the endless cycle of reincarnation, and in that respect, these photos are meant as a meditation on life, death and transcendence.