ChurchWork
1993-2001
“ChurchWork” is a series of photographs of liturgical art, architecture, and design. It was created primarily in post-Vatican II church buildings throughout Europe and The United States. Among the many reforms made, The Second Vatican Council (Rome 1962-1965) encouraged the international catholic church to use the vernacular languages and styles of individual cultures to create new art and architecture for their communities.
These images address the possibility of experiencing revelation in art and religion and bear witness to the particular manifestation and location within the sacred space. The ultimate intention of this work is to explore the nature of revelation, the absence of it, and to envision the physical point of their convergence.
Photographing in these typically dark spaces was a slow process using a large-format field camera. My exposures were often hours long. Conversely, I used daylight to make platinum/palladium contact prints that took just as long. The results are small icon-like images rendered by precious metals. In contrast to the 19th-century process, I also print this work digitally at a sizable 21st-century scale.
I met many remarkable spiritual leaders along the path of this project. An exceptionally inspiring Jesuit priest with a fine sense of humor surprised me while I was on my knees behind my camera and said: You seemed to have a gift for praying! I have always loved him for that and have considered the process of photographing as a meditation ever since.