New Photo Exhibition at the Arvo Pärt Centre

Text and photo Stewart Johnson

Just past the pines of Laulasmaa, nestled away in a forest at the base of the Lohusalu Peninsula, you’ll find the Arvo Pärt Centre. Arvo Pärt of course is the world’s most-played living composer, and if you didn’t already know, he’s Estonian. It’s safe to say that most people who value culture and music have already visited, but now there is a very good reason to visit once more, or especially if you haven’t been before. The new photo exhibition by Ali Borovalı, titled “Behind the Veil: Monastic Life on Mount Athos”, opened last week, and will last until the very end of April.

Beginning in 2001, Borovalı visited this monastery in Greece several times over the next seven years, documenting their daily struggle for purification, and their resistance to change from the outside world. While on Mount Athos, he spent great amounts of time with the monks, fully experiencing their Athonite way of life. A substantial portion of each day is dedicated to prayer, labour, and ritual.

Arvo Pärt has visited the Holy Mountain himself. In fact, the spirituality, silence, and tradition of the “Jesus Prayer” of Mount Athos have had a profound influence on Pärt’s work. As the description for the exhibition states, “Two of his most important spiritual teachers were monks from Mount Athos: St Silouan and St Sophrony, the patron saints of the chapel at the Arvo Pärt Centre.”

Ali Borovalı was born in Istanbul, Türkiye, and educated in photography in Florida, in the US. He is specialised in photo-reportage, often spending weeks, or even years, at a time researching and capturing the character of a location and its people and indigenous life. His work has been featured in National Geographic Traveller, Discovery, Marie Claire, and more.

The Arvo Pärt Centre is open from Wednesday to Sunday, 12:00 until 17:00. From 1 May the centre will be open one hour longer, until 18:00, on the same days of the week.

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