Afghans pass a clothing storein Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, October 12, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/AP Photo)

Palestinians sit in a fishing boat loaded into a horse cart as they pass on a street in the northern Gaza Strip on October 19, 2022. (Photo by Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

Children hitch a ride with a passing tram in Dnipro, Ukraine on March 19, 2024. (Photo by Jack Hill/The Times)

Light is the sole reason why life exists. It provides us with warmth; it allows us to see; it nourishes all the living things on this planet. Many painters, especially the masters of Old Renaissance Period, have recognized the importance of light and its intimate connection with nature and life itself. In their paintings they gave tribute to light, giving the impression that their paintings had a light source hidden within them. Al Hogue, the artist who created the paintings that you see before you, has studied their techniques for many years. As time went by, light permeated not only his paintings by also his life, becoming his sole philosophy.

A Hindu woman hold clay-lamp during a ceremony to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, at Krishna temple in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, November 12, 2023. The Hindu festival of lights, Diwali celebrates the spiritual victory of light over darkness. (Photo by K.M. Chaudary/AP Photo)

A vervet monkey passes in front of a woman on the shores of lake Naivasha, Kenya January 24, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

A window cleaner passes a lighter to his colleague while rappelling from a new building in Tianjin March 23, 2007. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A seal infront of a passing cruise ship on the shore between Sandhaven village and Fraserburgh in Scotland in August 2023. (Photo by Mark Grant/Caters News Agency)