Ashes and Snow

This is not a movie.
It is; a movie, a poetry, a photography, a novel; it is a celebration; of peace, of serenity, of harmony, of love; it is both silent and shouting; it is a true meditation.

If you come to me at this moment
Your minutes will become hours
Your hours will become days
And your days will become a lifetime



Ashes and Snow is an installation by Canadian artist George Colbert, consisting of photography, films and a novel, exhibited in the Nomadic Museum, a structure exclusively built for the exhibition. I am sure that being actually inside the exhibition and experiencing it would be like a meditation itself; and yet, for those who could not live through this experience, the film is a must find and see.

In his work, of almost a lifetime, Colbert captures the interaction between humans and animals: elephants, whales, cheetahs, elands etc, those animals which in modern life we do not approach in nature. Yet, he manages to break the common walls between the species, and the result becomes a silent dance; yes, they do not only 'touch' each other, they 'dance'. And they both show the world that they are one, that both are the ultimate being, and there can be a peaceful life shared if we just listen, to the silence each give.

Feather to Fire,
Fire to Blood,
Blood to Bone,
Bone to Marrow,
Marrow to Ashes,
Ashes to Snow...

The images in the film are accompanied by music by artists such as Lisa Gerard, Patrick Cassidy and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and by excerpts from the novel of letters narrated by Laurence Fishburne in English, Enrique Rocha in Spanish, Ken Watanebe in Japanese and Jeanne Moreau in French. The letters, 365 in number as one letter in each day, are from a fictional man, who goes on to a year-long journey to find his true soul, to his wife. The title Ashes and Snow refers to this literary component of the exhibition.


Although some people criticize the whole work as being pretentious and even narcissism, I believe that even being able to stage such a choreography is modesty, for it approaches to those people and animals in a whole new and different perspective. I would urge you to watch the film in a place of complete silence if you can, and in darkness; until then go to http://www.ashesandsnow.org and select the enhanced experience.