A man holds a cow at the cattle market in Maiduguri, Nigeria, March 9, 2016. A Nigerian government push to strangle the Boko Haram insurgency has shut down the cattle trade that sustained the city of Maiduguri, leaving many residents with no livelihood, including many of the two million people displaced by the war. In recent months the army has taken back much of the territory lost to the jihadists during the five-year insurgency. (Photo by Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

A Filipino flagellant crawls along a street on Maundy Thursday, in San Fernando city, Pampanga Province, north of Manila, Philippines, 24 March 2016. Many Filipino Catholic penitents mark the Holy Week by submitting to different forms of physical penance in the hopes of being forgiven for their sins. (Photo by Francis R. Malasig/EPA)

A child uses an umbrella to avoid rain falling on a fire at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Monday, April 25, 2016. Many thousands of migrants remain at the Greek border with Macedonia, hoping that the border crossing will reopen, allowing them to move north into central Europe. (Photo by Gregorio Borgia/AP Photo)

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.

Some dozens of long-finned pilot whales lay dead on a remote beach in Iceland after they were discovered by tourists sightseeing in the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in western Iceland aboard a helicopter, Thursday July 18, 2019. The whales were concentrated in one spot on the beach, many partially covered by sand. (Photo by David Schwarzhans via AP Photo)

People try to get a roast chicken at the first Costco outlet in China, on the stores opening day in Shanghai on August 27, 2019. China has proved a brutal battleground for overseas food retailers in recent years, with many failing to understand consumer habits and tastes as well as local competitors building a stronger presence. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)

An Indian rag picker collects plastic bags at an industrial area on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Tuesday, June 5, 2018. The U.N. says government bans on plastic can be effective in cutting back on waste but poor planning and follow-through have left many such bans ineffective. (Photo by Channi Anand/AP Photo)

Woman dons a mask a she prepares to dance in the streets during the feast of La Diablada, in Pillaro, Ecuador, Friday, January 4, 2019. The town of Pillaro kicks off the feast of the La Diablada with neighborhoods competing to bring as many people dressed as different characters. (Photo by Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo)