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Just past the pines of Laulasmaa, nestled away in a forest at the base of the Lohusalu Peninsula, you\u2019ll find the Arvo P\u00e4rt Centre. Arvo P\u00e4rt<\/b> of course is the world\u2019s most-played living composer, and if you didn\u2019t already know, he\u2019s Estonian. It\u2019s 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\u2019t been before. The new photo exhibition by Ali Boroval\u0131<\/b>, titled \u201cBehind the Veil: Monastic Life on Mount Athos\u201d, opened last week, and will last until the very end of April.<\/p>\n
Beginning in 2001, Boroval\u0131 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.<\/p>\n
Arvo P\u00e4rt has visited the Holy Mountain himself. In fact, the spirituality, silence, and tradition of the \u201cJesus Prayer\u201d of Mount Athos have had a profound influence on P\u00e4rt\u2019s work. As the description for the exhibition states, \u201cTwo 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 P\u00e4rt Centre.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ali Boroval\u0131 was born in Istanbul, T\u00fcrkiye, 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<\/i>, Discovery<\/i>, Marie Claire<\/i>, and more.<\/p>\n