Robin Schimko, fresh from a trip to Thailand, returns with a series of shots capturing one of the most extreme and fascinating rituals in the world. The German photographer, who has spent years traveling the globe in pursuit of the spontaneous energy of street photography, has just completed a new chapter of his ongoing project on the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, a Taoist celebration that escapes any simple definition.

Despite the name, it is not a food festival at all: it is a vortex of spirituality, collective trance, and ritual chaos. For days, the streets of Phuket are overrun by processions, firecrackers, dense smoke, and an almost primordial energy. Participants, in states of deep trance, perform acts of self-sacrifice as a form of purification and protection for the community, turning every alley into a scene suspended between the sacred and the surreal.

For Robin Schimko, photographing all of this means moving inside a living organism, following the relentless rhythm of the mediums, dodging explosions, tropical rain, and continuous noise. This year, the festival forced him to wake up at five in the morning, cross the city under endless downpours, and let himself be guided by the intensity of the moment. But it is exactly this friction—between devotion, chaos, and physical endurance—that makes the project so powerful.