BELOVÈD: PHOTO-TANKA MEDITATIONS, poetry by Gabriel Rosenstock / photography by Margaret McCarthy
Publication Date: February 15, 2025
Paperback, 116 pages
ISBN: 978-1-956782-94-3
This ethereal trans-Atlantic collaboration pairs the bilingual (Gaelic and English) tanka poetry of Irish author Gabriel Rosenstock with American photographer Margaret McCarthy’s atmospheric black & white images of the ancient world (with some complementary contemporary additions) — of art, landscape, and standing stone structures. Rosenstock’s ekphrastic poems were written and translated in spontaneous response to McCarthy’s photographs, with a theme emerging out of the process: our very human search for the (literal and personified) belovèd, throughout history, across place and time. Through the synergy between image and text, their work creates a third thing—a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Praise for Margaret McCarthy & Gabriel Rosenstock
Some artists defy conventions and merge different mediums to create something entirely new and thought-provoking. Pairing photography with tanka poetry adds a layer of depth and complexity to the visual art, engaging the audience in a different way than traditional approaches might.
— Charlotte Parkin, On Landscape Magazine
Margaret McCarthy captures a spiritual dimension, both seen and unseen, in her extra-ordinary black and white photographs published in her first monograph Belovèd: Photo-Tanka Meditations.
— Elizabeth Avedon, Independent Curator
Gabriel Rosenstock is a force of fiery nature, sweeping across the world of dispossessed cultures, languages, and voices, of disfigured and forgotten histories and landscapes, bringing them alive in the embrace of his songs.
—Waqas Khwaja, Poet
Filíocht dhomhanda í filíocht Rosenstock.
Rosenstock’s poetry is world poetry.
—Robert Welch, Author, Scholar, Editor, The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature
About the Author & Artist
Gabriel Rosenstock is a bilingual poet (in Irish & English), tankaist, haikuist, translator, essayist, playwright, novelist and short story writer. A Lineage Holder of Celtic Buddhism, he is the author of HAIKU ENLIGHTENMENT and the author/translator of over 180 books. Recent titles include: BOATMAN! take these songs from me (Manipal Universal Press, India); LOVE LETTER TO KASHMIR (Cross-Cultural Communications, NY) and GARSUN / BOY: A memoir in verse (Arlen House, Ireland). Rosenstock’s appreciation of Zen haiku, Sufi poetry and bhakti devotional poetry infuse his writing with an ethereal longing that explores our concept of the “belovèd” in all its vast, varied and complex dimensions. Rosenstock filters these cross-cultural references through the prism of the Irish language; with his bi-lingual poems, he brings a 1,300-year old tradition from Japan to illuminate our current moment.
http://roghaghabriel.blogspot.ie/
Margaret McCarthy has been drawn to the landscapes of antiquity throughout her photographic travels. She photographs with an immediate, intuitive reaction to the “genius loci” —the spirit(s) of a specific place. Her work has taken her to the standing stones across Europe, the pyramids of Mexico, the temples of Greece and the castros of Celtic Spain. Many of the photographs were made in Celtic landscapes of Europe, where the “other world” is inherent in indigenous Celtic beliefs and mythology. Inspired and indebted to mythology, she brings the eye of a poet to her photography, exploring archetypes of myth, dream and the divine feminine. McCarthy’s work is driven by a sense of wonder at the fecund creativity of the natural world. A multi-award-winning artist, her work has been exhibited and collected widely, and published extensively.
Publication Date: February 15, 2025
Paperback, 116 pages
ISBN: 978-1-956782-94-3
This ethereal trans-Atlantic collaboration pairs the bilingual (Gaelic and English) tanka poetry of Irish author Gabriel Rosenstock with American photographer Margaret McCarthy’s atmospheric black & white images of the ancient world (with some complementary contemporary additions) — of art, landscape, and standing stone structures. Rosenstock’s ekphrastic poems were written and translated in spontaneous response to McCarthy’s photographs, with a theme emerging out of the process: our very human search for the (literal and personified) belovèd, throughout history, across place and time. Through the synergy between image and text, their work creates a third thing—a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Praise for Margaret McCarthy & Gabriel Rosenstock
Some artists defy conventions and merge different mediums to create something entirely new and thought-provoking. Pairing photography with tanka poetry adds a layer of depth and complexity to the visual art, engaging the audience in a different way than traditional approaches might.
— Charlotte Parkin, On Landscape Magazine
Margaret McCarthy captures a spiritual dimension, both seen and unseen, in her extra-ordinary black and white photographs published in her first monograph Belovèd: Photo-Tanka Meditations.
— Elizabeth Avedon, Independent Curator
Gabriel Rosenstock is a force of fiery nature, sweeping across the world of dispossessed cultures, languages, and voices, of disfigured and forgotten histories and landscapes, bringing them alive in the embrace of his songs.
—Waqas Khwaja, Poet
Filíocht dhomhanda í filíocht Rosenstock.
Rosenstock’s poetry is world poetry.
—Robert Welch, Author, Scholar, Editor, The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature
About the Author & Artist
Gabriel Rosenstock is a bilingual poet (in Irish & English), tankaist, haikuist, translator, essayist, playwright, novelist and short story writer. A Lineage Holder of Celtic Buddhism, he is the author of HAIKU ENLIGHTENMENT and the author/translator of over 180 books. Recent titles include: BOATMAN! take these songs from me (Manipal Universal Press, India); LOVE LETTER TO KASHMIR (Cross-Cultural Communications, NY) and GARSUN / BOY: A memoir in verse (Arlen House, Ireland). Rosenstock’s appreciation of Zen haiku, Sufi poetry and bhakti devotional poetry infuse his writing with an ethereal longing that explores our concept of the “belovèd” in all its vast, varied and complex dimensions. Rosenstock filters these cross-cultural references through the prism of the Irish language; with his bi-lingual poems, he brings a 1,300-year old tradition from Japan to illuminate our current moment.
http://roghaghabriel.blogspot.ie/
Margaret McCarthy has been drawn to the landscapes of antiquity throughout her photographic travels. She photographs with an immediate, intuitive reaction to the “genius loci” —the spirit(s) of a specific place. Her work has taken her to the standing stones across Europe, the pyramids of Mexico, the temples of Greece and the castros of Celtic Spain. Many of the photographs were made in Celtic landscapes of Europe, where the “other world” is inherent in indigenous Celtic beliefs and mythology. Inspired and indebted to mythology, she brings the eye of a poet to her photography, exploring archetypes of myth, dream and the divine feminine. McCarthy’s work is driven by a sense of wonder at the fecund creativity of the natural world. A multi-award-winning artist, her work has been exhibited and collected widely, and published extensively.
Publication Date: February 15, 2025
Paperback, 116 pages
ISBN: 978-1-956782-94-3
This ethereal trans-Atlantic collaboration pairs the bilingual (Gaelic and English) tanka poetry of Irish author Gabriel Rosenstock with American photographer Margaret McCarthy’s atmospheric black & white images of the ancient world (with some complementary contemporary additions) — of art, landscape, and standing stone structures. Rosenstock’s ekphrastic poems were written and translated in spontaneous response to McCarthy’s photographs, with a theme emerging out of the process: our very human search for the (literal and personified) belovèd, throughout history, across place and time. Through the synergy between image and text, their work creates a third thing—a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Praise for Margaret McCarthy & Gabriel Rosenstock
Some artists defy conventions and merge different mediums to create something entirely new and thought-provoking. Pairing photography with tanka poetry adds a layer of depth and complexity to the visual art, engaging the audience in a different way than traditional approaches might.
— Charlotte Parkin, On Landscape Magazine
Margaret McCarthy captures a spiritual dimension, both seen and unseen, in her extra-ordinary black and white photographs published in her first monograph Belovèd: Photo-Tanka Meditations.
— Elizabeth Avedon, Independent Curator
Gabriel Rosenstock is a force of fiery nature, sweeping across the world of dispossessed cultures, languages, and voices, of disfigured and forgotten histories and landscapes, bringing them alive in the embrace of his songs.
—Waqas Khwaja, Poet
Filíocht dhomhanda í filíocht Rosenstock.
Rosenstock’s poetry is world poetry.
—Robert Welch, Author, Scholar, Editor, The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature
About the Author & Artist
Gabriel Rosenstock is a bilingual poet (in Irish & English), tankaist, haikuist, translator, essayist, playwright, novelist and short story writer. A Lineage Holder of Celtic Buddhism, he is the author of HAIKU ENLIGHTENMENT and the author/translator of over 180 books. Recent titles include: BOATMAN! take these songs from me (Manipal Universal Press, India); LOVE LETTER TO KASHMIR (Cross-Cultural Communications, NY) and GARSUN / BOY: A memoir in verse (Arlen House, Ireland). Rosenstock’s appreciation of Zen haiku, Sufi poetry and bhakti devotional poetry infuse his writing with an ethereal longing that explores our concept of the “belovèd” in all its vast, varied and complex dimensions. Rosenstock filters these cross-cultural references through the prism of the Irish language; with his bi-lingual poems, he brings a 1,300-year old tradition from Japan to illuminate our current moment.
http://roghaghabriel.blogspot.ie/
Margaret McCarthy has been drawn to the landscapes of antiquity throughout her photographic travels. She photographs with an immediate, intuitive reaction to the “genius loci” —the spirit(s) of a specific place. Her work has taken her to the standing stones across Europe, the pyramids of Mexico, the temples of Greece and the castros of Celtic Spain. Many of the photographs were made in Celtic landscapes of Europe, where the “other world” is inherent in indigenous Celtic beliefs and mythology. Inspired and indebted to mythology, she brings the eye of a poet to her photography, exploring archetypes of myth, dream and the divine feminine. McCarthy’s work is driven by a sense of wonder at the fecund creativity of the natural world. A multi-award-winning artist, her work has been exhibited and collected widely, and published extensively.