"Of This, Men Shall Know Nothing..."

A meditation on mortality in all its aspects -- including the loss of youth, of trust, of innocence, of fair play, and creative imagination. The title for this composite photo illustration comes from a surrealist painting by Max Ernst. // The building in the middle ground is the now abandoned quarantine facility on Roosevelt Island off NYC where smallpox victims were once brought to die in agony and isolation. I originally photographed the building for it's gothic "charm" -- but as work progressed, I also began to develop a sense of empathy for the suffering of the thousands who were condemned to die here by a chance encounter with a few virus spores. The Celtic cross is not meant as a symbol of any particular religious dogma, but merely as a sign of mankind's desperate hope that beyond loss there is, well... something. Comments appreciated.