Tao Evolution in Hong Kong designed and printed a small 8" x 8" catalog to accompany
Monica Denevan's March 2007 exhibition, "The River Anthology: Portraits from Burma."

The catalog has fifteen images and text by Scott Minick.
If you would like to purchase a catalog, please email monicadenevan@yahoo.com

Introduction to the Catalog

My first glimpse of Monica Denevan's photographs caught me entirely by surprise. I found
myself simultaneously drawn between two extremes of interpretation. Immediately beautiful
and compelling in their composition, I had the feeling that I was looking at a collection of vintage
fashion photographs. And yet, here surrounding these graceful forms was the powerful and dramatic landscape of Asia, with all its haunting, mystical appeal. Often ravaged by the forces of
wind and water, the people depicted here form a resilient front, a line of defense if you will, that engages them in an ongoing struggle for survival. Much in the manner of the trees and structures around them, nature demands of these bodies a similar willingness to conform. It is this
engagement with nature that forms the subject of Monica's work. Introspective and meditative,
Denevan's camera captures lives that have struck a delicate, often bittersweet balance.
Full of visual vitality and natural symbolism, their spirit is a reflection of centuries of unchanging
habits. Standing before us, each of these individuals manages to yield to the camera a quiet yet
heroic presence. Her subjects, intimately connected to the man-made possessions that surround
them, are caught in a transient moment, unfettered by what has passed and what is yet to come.

Scott Minick, Tao Evolution, Hong Kong