A monk examines my world from his cloister in Luang Prabang. I use his open window to symbolize the connection between his world and mine. The window is a frame in itself, a device that allows light into the darkness of his cloister and also allows him to look out beyond the walls that confine him and study life on the outside. This window, a frame working within the frame of the image itself, serves both this symbolic function and a structural purpose. A black hole always pulls the eye to a picture. And the window frames a back hole, creating a focal point. Strong colors draw the eye as well, and few subjects are as vividly colored as the orange robes of a Buddhist monk. The colored robes are bounded by both the frame of the window and the blackness beyond, multiplying the power of the focal point. The window also sits within a white wall, and is bounded by a reddish brown frame of its own, and green shutters. The wall provides strong contrast for these elements as well. I also placed the window off center, so that the monk, whose body faces to the right, has more space to lean into. He looks over his shoulder at us as he leans, one hand on the window ledge, as if to ask us what we are looking at.