honorable mention
Mark Vitaris
title
Reverence
Reverence
(Redeemer Church)
Working in Hale County, Alabama for the U.S. Farm Security Administration, Walker Evans gained notoriety for his portraits of rural poverty and poor sharecroppers. His artistic expression in documentary photography from the 1930s has been influential in shaping my own photographic perspective. Months before I walked into the Redeemer Lutheran Church in southern Alberta, I was given a contact print made directly from an original Walker Evans negative from the collection of the Library of Congress. The photograph was entitled Church Interior Alabama, 1936. In it, Evans’ use of light and space to render a timeless quality is an example of his dedication to the idea of photography as a creative tool.
As I entered this simple place of prayer, the air hung heavy, like a sultry summer day in Alabama. The stale smell of dust and the fetor of splattered bird droppings wrinkled my nose. A crocheted lace altar-cloth draped limply over the plywood altar. Above it, in the subdued light of worship, a portrait of Christ thumbtacked to the wood-paneled wall warped. On the dais, an ornate Thomas pump-organ similar to the one in Evans’ photograph sat soundlessly, adorned with a bouquet of plastic chrysanthemums. The drone of flies buzzing about excitedly, banging into the sunlit windowpane were the only hymns of praise that day.
Southern Alberta and Hale County, Alabama are far apart, but as I stood in reverence in the first row of the Redeemer Church and composed my photograph, I connected across borders of time and space.
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entry description
Reverence
(Redeemer Church)
Working in Hale County, Alabama for the U.S. Farm Security Administration, Walker Evans gained notoriety for his portraits of rural poverty and poor sharecroppers. His artistic expression in documentary photography from the 1930s has been influential in shaping my own photographic perspective. Months before I walked into the Redeemer Lutheran Church in southern Alberta, I was given a contact print made directly from an original Walker Evans negative from the collection of the Library of Congress. The photograph was entitled Church Interior Alabama, 1936. In it, Evans’ use of light and space to render a timeless quality is an example of his dedication to the idea of photography as a creative tool.
As I entered this simple place of prayer, the air hung heavy, like a sultry summer day in Alabama. The stale smell of dust and the fetor of splattered bird droppings wrinkled my nose. A crocheted lace altar-cloth draped limply over the plywood altar. Above it, in the subdued light of worship, a portrait of Christ thumbtacked to the wood-paneled wall warped. On the dais, an ornate Thomas pump-organ similar to the one in Evans’ photograph sat soundlessly, adorned with a bouquet of plastic chrysanthemums. The drone of flies buzzing about excitedly, banging into the sunlit windowpane were the only hymns of praise that day.
Southern Alberta and Hale County, Alabama are far apart, but as I stood in reverence in the first row of the Redeemer Church and composed my photograph, I connected across borders of time and space.
back to gallery