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@balaramaheller

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SACRED PLACE • Aperture First Book Shortlist • Foundation Henri Cartier Bresson Book of the Month • Smithsonian Top Ten

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@nytmag cover! I time traveled 12 hours into the future to Sulawesi, Indonesia and emerged in a cave with humanity’s oldest narrative paintings. Seeing this artwork completely collapsed my sense of time - only the eternal present remained. Everything I encountered in this project from bioluminescent mushrooms to ancient living death rites of the Toraja to geothermal geysers - shook me out of ordinary consciousness and forced me to connect to a symbolic and mythic realm. The island’s tectonic violence and equatorial climate gave birth to one of the most culturally pluralistic and biodiverse places on this magical Earth. Sulawesi is a gem of ecological expression, deep time in motion and human flourishing. I was in an extended state of awe and wonder. I hope a little bit of that shines through in the images. More to come!

This project was a dream come true and I have infinite gratitude for The New York Times Magazine team and the incredible people of Sulawesi who made this possible.
Images and text by me!

Link in bio - and find it on newsstands!
Digital version is better on a computer.

@silverjake - editor in chief
@j_dims - director of photography
@amykellner - thank you!
@_hannahwhitaker editor
@axwwxa - story editor
@gailbichler - CD
@_calebbennett - print design
@redithw - digital design
@kate_larue - digital design
@jmyint - interactive
@adriennegreen_ - edit
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Guides who saved my life more than once and opened Sulawesi to me with generosity
@dodomursalim
@lensofkryv
@soba_toraja
@waldo_takasaheng
and many more w/o IG accounts

This project is dedicated to the memory of Mark Lipsitz @mnlipsitz by @balaramaheller

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a year ago

Sacred Place has been shortlisted for the Paris Photo - Aperture First Book Award 2025!

Congratulations to all the other shortlisted artists! Thank you @aperturefnd @parisphotofair and the jurors for this honor and recognition. I am so grateful- this project has been years in the making - with the utmost attention to detail, concept and craft.

Thank you @tisbooks @enlargedheart @carlwooley , @sikeyourmind for design and edit, Pico Iyer for the brilliant essay, my incredible partner @fabiola.alondra who is an endless well of wisdom bringing her own booking making experience to lift this project. Special thanks to @longo.media for making the miracle of 7 color offset printing a reality- the only way my images and color could exist in a book. So many people contributed to this in ways too many to count and I’m grateful to them all.

Pre-sale -link in bio -

See you all in Paris! by @balaramaheller

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a year ago

Totality Now
welcoming the Solar Eclipse by @balaramaheller

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2 months ago

@newyorkermag Flash Fiction
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@benkothe editor✨ by @balaramaheller

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2 months ago

In June I worked on a project for the @nytmag with the brilliant science writer @ferrisjabr about native species and the work of Dr. Douglas Tallamy. A dream to spend days and nights in the woods observing wildlife. In print today!

Thank you:

@j_dims 🌟
@_hannahwhitaker 🌟
and the whole design team at the magazine by @balaramaheller

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2 months ago

I am honored and excited to be included in @chloewise_ new book, Extra Sensory, published by Hatje Cantz and Kulturstifung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G in collaboration with curator Samuel Leuenberger.

Chloe’s project explores how we percieve reality — and what lies hidden beyond the reach of our senses and language.

My images and text, Invocation Entities: Angels, traces the overlapping territories of angels, Non-Human Intelligence, and altered states of consciousness.

Delighted to share space with so many incredible artists and writers including @fabiola.alondra @tonyoursler @gideon___jacobs @ericoglander @loganwhitephoto @enigmalabs DW Pasulka @kaykasparhauser

Thanks to:
@chloewise_
@samuel_leuenberger
@kbhgeiger
@hatjecantzverlag
@dansolbachstudio by @balaramaheller

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2 months ago

“Conceived in that suspended time between night and day, the work unfolds as a deeply personal yet broadly resonant pilgrimage — one that meditates on faith, memory, and spiritual transformation. It traces not belief as doctrine but belief as atmosphere: something breathed in, questioned, shed, and sometimes rediscovered.”

A special place from @balaramaheller by @balaramaheller

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4 months ago

Olga Yatskevich on Balarama Heller: Returning to the Liminal in Sacred Place

“Heller’s biography is a fundamental force within his practice. Raised within the Hare Krishna movement in the United States, he spent much of his childhood engaging in the rituals and itinerant lifestyle of a devotional community. When Heller was just ten days old, his mother, herself a devoted practitioner, began a decade‑long nomadic journey through Hare Krishna communities across the country, establishing “moving” as the only stable constant in his early life. That early immersion (along with his eventual decision to leave) created a dual awareness that shaped his practice: the intimacy of someone who once belonged, and the distance of someone who stepped outside”.

Please join us for the @10x10photobooks Salon this Thursday, April 9th, at @artinbrackets ’ TriBeca space (46 Walker St), featuring @anitagoes and @balaramaheller .

RSVP and Olga Yatskevich’s ( @helka )essay for Art Dialogues via the link in bio. taken in Manhattan, New York by @balaramaheller

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6 months ago

10x10 Photobooks Salon

Thursday, April 9, 2026 | 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Art in Brackets™️, Art Dialogues Magazine, and 10x10 Photo Books invite you to an evening of conversation, publishing, and contemporary art. The event features a talk with artist Ballarama Heller on his recent book, exploring his practice and approach to narrative and image-making. Sacred Place was shortlisted for the 2025 Paris Photo-Aperture First Book Award. Designed as an intimate gathering, the evening brings together artists, collectors, and the creative community for thoughtful exchange around art and the printed medium.
RSVP Link in bio.

10x10 Photobooks Salon

Quinta-feira, 9 de abril de 2026 | 18h – 20h

A Art in Brackets™️, a Art Dialogues Magazine e a 10x10 Photo Books convidam você para uma noite de conversa, publicação e arte contemporânea. O evento contará com uma palestra do artista Ballarama Heller sobre seu livro mais recente, explorando sua prática e abordagem à narrativa e à criação de imagens. Sacred Place foi finalista do Paris Photo-Aperture First Book Award de 2025. Concebido como um encontro intimista, a noite reunirá artistas, colecionadores e a comunidade criativa para uma troca de ideias sobre arte e a mídia impressa.
RSVP Link na bio.

#artdialoguesmagazine #ballaramaheller #parisphotoaperturefirstbookaward taken in Tribeca, New York City by @balaramaheller

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6 months ago

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Magnetic Field Drawing 5, 2026
From my recent group exhibition at @library.180 curated by @jeanettehayes by @balaramaheller

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6 months ago

A flip through Sacred Place by Balarama Heller

Balarama Heller’s Sacred Place was created in the predawn hours, when the veil between the spiritual and material realms is thinnest. It is a deeply personal yet universally resonant pilgrimage exploring faith, memory, and spiritual transformation. Born into the Hare Krishna movement in America, Balarama Heller grew up within a world of devotion, ritual, and upheaval—moving through communes, countercultures, and moments of both transcendence and disillusionment. Returning to Vrindavan, India, the heart of the religion, Heller, guided by Joseph Campbell’s idea that sacred places reveal “eternity shining through time,” crafts an alchemical tapestry of archetypes both ancient and new. Sacred Place sifts through the magnetism forged by millennia of pilgrims—Heller himself among them—seeking to touch the Infinite glimmering through the present. by @balaramaheller

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8 months ago

Sacred Place in the Sunday @nytimes !!
So grateful for the recognition this book has received!
@tisbooks for global shipping • link in bio
NYC in person purchase @rectangle.room // @primaryphotographic 113 Eldridge St

@nytopinion by @balaramaheller

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9 months ago