In his mind's eye

The show is a depiction of Asia's unique cultural heritage as seen through the eyes of a westerner with a deep love for the region's art and architecture.

Featuring mostly Powell's recent works, the exhibition showcases different architectural styles of Tibetan houses, country homes in Pakistan's upper Swat valley, temples and shrines in Nepal and other significant structures in Cambodia and China. Also on show are some of Powell's paintings of Mustang houses in Nepal.  

Some of these show residences in a Tanbe village on a steep hillside high above the Kali Gandaki river in Nepal, as well as shelters plastered with mud in the Kathmandu Valley and a stable door of a Mustang house wrapped in goat skins.

The architecture of Angkor Wat also figures prominently. In one painting, he captures a towering silk cotton tree gradually swallowing the inner gallery at Ta Prohm. He also vividly depicts the sandstone bed of the "River of a Thousand Linga" carved in the mid-11th century with linga, yonis and deities. Several other Khmer temples have found their way to Powell's paintings.

Trained in architecture in Australia, Powell came to Asia in 1974 and was in India when Ladakh was opened to foreigners for the first time. He spent several months there documenting its Tibetan architecture. That experience was the beginning of his exploration of Asian cultures and he has since lived and worked in several Asian countries, spending long periods in Nepal, India, Pakistan and also China and Japan.

For more information about the show, e-mail serindiagallery@gmail.com or call (02) 238 6410.