A Hidden Wholeness: The Zen Photography of Thomas Merton
March 18 - June 15, 2008

An exhibition featuring 35 photographs by Thomas Merton from the Collections of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky.  These photographs invite us to an "aesthetic illumination" in which we see the "mundane" and the "spiritual" as one.  As Merton writes, Zen "seeks not to explain but to pay attention, to become aware, to be mindful, in other words to develop a certain kind of consciousness..."  It is this experience to which Merton invites us to "come and see" as we view these photographs.  This exhibit is co-sponsored by the Thomas Merton Center and Interfaith Paths to Peace.

Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky.  He is best known today for his spiritual writings on contemplation and his own personal spiritual journey that led him to study Eastern religions, especially Zen Buddhism.  Merton was also a visual artist of considerable talent exploring drawing and calligraphy and, as reflected in this exhibition, photography.