Hermits around the web – Hermitary
news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
This China Daily article highlights the 14th-century Chinese landscape painter Ni Zan (Ni Tsan), known as the “hermit of cloud forest.”
“You hardly find images of people in his paintings, except for maybe a few Taoist monks, as he regarded ordinary people as so much less attractive than what he imagined and depicted in his art,” notes Lu Li, director of the curatorial department of Nanjing Museum in Jiangsu province.
URL: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sunday/2011-09/18/content_13727099.htm
ABC TV of Australia first aired the documentary “Hermits: Freedom or Madness” in February of 1998 on its Compass series. (Mentioned in this blog back in 2003!) The documentary is now available on the web.
Description from the Compass site:
COMPASS follows six very different Australians who’ve all chosen to live lives of complete seclusion, free from obligations – withdrawn from society (yet in some cases still living in urban environs), exploring life in depth.
We meet people like Vyn Bailey, a hermit and yogin – Father Ronan, a Priest and anchorite – and Pravrajika Ajayaprana, a Hindu nun.
URLs:
Compass site: http://www.abc.net.au/compass/series/1998/hermits.htm
Video: http://www.catholictv.tv/new/index.php/programs/113-freedom
“Into The Silence: Hermits of The Third Millennium” is a photographic gallery of Italian photographer Carlo Bevilacqua. Featured are over 50 photographs of hermits of India, Orthodox hermits of Greece and Georgia, Christian hermits of Italy, and secular hermits, plus their dwellings. Bevilacqua’s work is clear, focused, humane, and empathetic.
The photographer has communicated to Hermitary that he is looking for contemporary hermits pursuing silence and retreat for a new project. Contact the photographer at info at carlobevilacqua dot com and indicate that you learned of him at Hermitary.
From the gallery:
They are not so many, but their presence and their witness have a powerful and fascinating effect. They live sometimes isolated in small apartments in the heart of our cities, most often they stay by the side of woods and villages. They build their own retreat or put away old rectory and chapels that previously fell to pieces.
The phenomenon has been observed in the late eighties and recent years have seen a steady increase in number. Extraordinary stories and portraits of surprising humanity which strike for the radical and the beauty of life that flows from it. …
URL: http://www.carlobevilacqua.com/html/album.php?id_album=31
A travel series on Hungary features a short article on caves occupied by religious hermits.
The hermits themselves lived in these caves during the 18th century, although it is said that there were dwellers here as late as the 1930’s. The sizes of the rooms vary; the largest are the two chapels and the kitchen which are between 1.9 and 2.6 metres high. The ceilings are flat with the exception of the chapel which has a three-centred arch.
The door and window frames have remained intact in several places and there are traces of bars at the windows. Altars were carved out of the soft limestone in both chapels and a cross jutting out of the sidewall in the right hand side chapel. The kitchen was the only heated room and here the visitors may still observe some remains of the fireplace, the chimney and the benches along the wall as well as the large square floor coverings.
In the sleeping chamber the ledges that once held the boards that served as the beds have also survived. The iron clamps that once held the chimney on the face of the rocks above the cave is still visible as are the nails that once held three large wooden crosses in place.
The article includes a photo of the exterior.
URL: http://www.xpatloop.com/news/xploring_hungary_hermit_caves_remetebarlang_matraverebely
from the producer: “When an old hermit monk has his day interrupted by an uninvited guest, he is unwillingly taken on a journey to discover the true meaning of companionship.” Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary.