Windcatcher (Indonesia, Bali)

In Bali, kites were not born for entertainment. Their origins are ritualistic, rooted in the agricultural and cosmological practices of Balinese villages. They were flown into the sky to honor Rare Angon , the god of the wind, in the hope of blessing rice crops, regulating the rains, or warding off harmful spirits.

Each shape had a meaning: fish for fertility , bird for freedom , dragon for protective strength . Flight was an offering—an ephemeral language addressed to the deities. Today, even though kite festivals (such as those in Sanur or Padang Galak) have become tourist events, these flying objects remain bearers of ritual memory .

In artisanal production, the gestures remain: bamboo, fabric, natural dye, know-how transmitted without manuals. These are living traditions, reinterpreted, but never emptied of their symbolic density. This flight is not a game, it is a fragment of aerial spirituality — a cultural practice where beauty still serves as a bridge between humans and the elements .

This photograph was selected by the prestigious international gallery 1X.com, which recognizes works for their aesthetic and documentary value.