Lalibela, 2018

In January of 2018, I went back to the holy and historic city of Lalibela for the Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas celebration.

Over the course of a week, pilgrims start to arrive from all over Ethiopia, and all over the world, some by airplane, some by bus, and some on foot from their home villages at the end of a two month journey. They come to visit and pray in a church complex that was carved out of solid rock eight hundred years ago.

The first time I was there, most of my photos were about trying to describe how the place looks. This time, I wanted to communicate how the place felt to me.

It’s hard for me to put into words how wonderful, overwhelming, and magical of an experience it is. These photos are an attempt to get at how it felt to me to be there, in ancient churches, filled with 50,000 pilgrims.