2025

KUMBHA MELA

“What makes photography
a strange intervention is that its primary raw materials are light and time.”
- John Berger

&

SPACE
[ infinite potential ]

AHAM BRAHMĀSMI

Sanskrit Mahavakya, meaning “I am Totality”

OUR TRUE NATURE | ESSENCE OF BEING
is
TOTALITY

&

THE ELEMENT // SPIRIT OF SPACE
IS
FULL POTENTIALITY

2025

Here is an online portfolio of selected images.

My work employs photography, moving image, installation or architecture of space, and meditation.
I am looking for opportunities to create new work in community with other artists.

With Infinite Love & Light,

Su Jānakī Lee

BACKGROUND NOTES

duode+cennial = every 12 years
formerly named Allahabad “city of God” | Prāyagraj (Sanskrit: place of sacrifice)

The nature is true sacrifice is based on willing surrender.
When we understand that the layers we shed to reveal our true Nature and Self, are simply the accumulation of stress memories, we can easily let go.

Revealing this enlightened state comes through
Devotion
[ Reverence with Love ]

This is the highest truth of swaha.

My daily meditation practice leads the way.
Creativity grows from a connection to the divine within.
In Chinese medicine, this access to what is in that paradigm called the Heavenly aspect is through the Heart.
Aligning all aspects of Self is how one can be open to the full potential of Nature’s Intent.

We do not design or create, in so much as, surrender - get out of the way - with full reverence, to our highest purpose and the art follows.

I went to India seeking visions of the divine, evidence that I could capture photographically.
In this, I was reminded that the viewer’s state of consciousness is the final piece.
It is my intention to continue to work towards enlivening the divine within and without.

New Polaroid Work
= = = =

SCROLL TO THE END

श्री परमात्मने नमः

śrī paramātmane namaḥ

ARTIST STATEMENT

I have always been attracted to the Metaphysical aspects of life. The intangibles that are of greatest value to the perceiver. In previous work, I captured space (Sanskrit ākāśa) in significant locations of Space|Time. With photography, I used the camera to create evidence of important moments and ephemeral spaces. This project is a venture into the UNKNOWN while activating the SPACE element through Consciousness and cultivating an ancient practice called the Siddhis.

With my daily meditation practice, my understanding of identity, source, and purpose of creative expression has been profoundly reframed. This project marks a transformation from an individualized self to a Universal Self through photography & as a vessel for expression of the Universal Self.

An important aspect of the work is creating a shared experience over space and time. It reflects an awakening of subtle senses and the desire to share my recognition of the divine within us all.

ALL THINGS ARE KNOWN THROUGH PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Background in the Arts:

Before I became a Vedic Meditation teacher, I studied photography and art, earning a BFA at the University of Georgia in Athens and Master of Fine Art through a dual degree program at Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) in Boston with a full scholarship. During this time immersed in the arts, I was able to explore all the themes that are still very alive within me today. It was the beginning of a deep exploration into Self and human nature, which ultimately led me to Vedic Meditation as a source of direct experience.

Over the past decade, I became more interested in going to the Source of Knowledge and Creative Inspiration, now this is an opportunity to integrate the whole thing. Since 2018, when I surrendered everything I had known until then in favor of a more expansive experience of life, I have been dedicated not only to my own spiritual growth but also to the shepherding of others who are seeking a connection with Source. In this period, art became more of an abstract idea that I experienced through deepening my experience with layers within myself. I’ve always described my life as art. Now I’ve been offered this extraordinary opportunity to create within a unique and ephemeral container of millions of people coming to gather with a shared desire and purpose. This is what the Kumbha Mela means to me.

In SEARCH of the SACRED
in
daily human experience

Kumbha Mela | Historical Significance

A celebration and pilgrimage for all spiritual aspirants in India and beyond. It is an opportunity to gather and create a synergistic energy with all the spiritual leaders, aspirants, devotees, and visitors who come to witness.

The journey culminates in a tradition of mass bathing in the Ganges that has been recorded for more than 2,500 years. This ceremonial bathing is seen as a literal and metaphorical purification.

The Kumbha Mela sites cycle between

Four Cities | Four Sites
Prayagraj : confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the mythical Sarasvati rivers
Nashik : On the Godavari River
Haridwar : On the Ganges River
Ujjain : On the Shipra River

Every 6 years, a half Mela with Purna Melas happens in 12-year cycles, to celebrate every revolution Brihaspati (Jupiter). The 2025 Kumbha Mela is a Full Mela which happens every 12 years.

And every 144 years, after 12 Purna (Complete) Kumbh Mela cycles, a Maha Mela.

2025 was a Purna Kumbh Mela.

Additional Images:
@Truing_SJ

The full catalog of images is not yet available.
As soon as the film is developed & scanned soon!

MAHA KUMBHA MELA POLAROID SCANS

The originals are more muted and have less contrast. The new Polaroid film also tends to shift blue in colder temperatures. Part of the charm of instant photographs is the subtle imperfections and how they capture a feeling more than a meticulous copy of the moment.

Historic Records, Beijing (2008)

Human Nature, (2004)