'Dimensions' Connecting Peru Through Photography: Laura Grier's Gallery Show in Washington, DC

Someone once asked me to list all of the best moments of my life and I had never stopped to think about that question before. But as I started naming them I realized every single one of them was tied to an indescribable surreal experience that had to do with a connection to nature or the Earth; laying in the snow under the swirling Northern Lights, being surrounded by thousands of storks at sunset on the Amazon river, hiking and sitting at the top of Machu Picchu and being speechless,  standing on the edge of an active volcano in Guatemala,  the list is endless and keeps on growing as I live. Luckily, most of those experiences I have been lucky enough to capture through my lens and I forever have an imprint of that memory in my life.

TRAVELING THROUGH PERU’S DIMENSIONS  

The common denominator in all of these examples is creating new experiences and creating connections to our earth and experiencing its power. I never realized before now that there was a greater purpose to my wanderlust; that I want to feel connected to it all. 

Ancient civilizations like the Incas understood this so much better than we do today. This idea of “connection” is why I named my gallery show “Dimensions”.  One of the reasons why Peru is so special to me, is that I feel like I am visiting multiple countries within one country.  You can go from beaches to deserts to volcanoes, glacier lakes high in the snow-covered Andes, hike to ancient ruins like Machu Picchu , boat out to islands with penguins on them, sandboard down the highest sand dunes in the world, and trek through jungles like the Amazon. It feels like Peru exists in multiple dimensions at the same time.

But also, the ancient Inca people were also very ahead of their time and believed that we exist in multiple dimensions. They were very in tune with the cosmos and Pachamama, or Mother Nature. Many people believe that our Earth has 7 energy Chakras and that Lake Titicaca is one of them representing the Sacral Chakra of the Earth. Structures like Stonehenge, the Pyramids of Egypt and Mayan, Aztec, and Incan monuments along with many temples, churches and pilgrimage sites are found in all of these powerful energetic spots. The idea of the “vortex” actually appears in all ancient civilizations. In fact, vortex literally means swirling spiral energy.

I was first introduced to this idea of a vortex while in Peru trying to find the infamous Nazca lines that were drawn in the desert. I met a shaman who sat with me for a while. I went to shake his hand and he told me that we westerners had lost the ability to connect with other people.  He had a point, as I realized  my obsessive need to be trying to document this moment with my cell phone that was still clutched in my other hand as I held his. I put my phone down, and he took my other hand. My left hand in his left hand and my right hand in his right hand, so that our arms formed a figure 8 or an infinity symbol. He told me that this was how ancient  Quechua people used to greet each other, creating an infinite circuit of energy between the two people; truly being connected unlike a traditional handshake. He showed me how our hands created spirals like yin and yang, again blending our energy. It’s amazing that these two ancient cultures that never knew each other believed in the same thing.

All ancient cultures of the world understood this and no matter what they called it, it was just the spiral of energy that is not only within all of us, but the world around us. We are all beings that are powered by impulses and electrical charges made mostly of water and it only makes sense that swirls of magnetic energy, like the Lake Titicaca or volcanoes, or the Northern Lights will affect our very beings and literally draw us to them. Whether you believe in it or not, there are unseen forces that surround us everywhere on this planet. In a world where we can be so disconnected by technology, it’s a nice thought to think that there are places that exist, vortexes, that can give us renewed energy, disrupt our magnetic energy, and let us tap into the power grid of our planet. Peru to me is one of these places.  

What we need more than ever now in our world is to connect with each other. Take moments to travel, pause, reflect, and write.  Listen more than talk, get off your phone, go out into nature, love without fear, take the time to talk to people around you, and tap back into the beautiful power of the universal energy around us. 

It is the greatest lesson I have been taught by the Quechua people is how to disconnect to really become connected. And this is the reason why I am so drawn to Peru and I will always keep going back. 

Laura Grier’s gallery show Dimensions is currently on display at the Peruvian Embassy in Washington, DC. Contact us for more information.