Sacred Space: Photographs From the Mississippi Delta, 1989-1992, 2006-2007

Physical description:

62 prints

Scope and content:

This body of work comprises 62 black-and-white prints that document and reflect on spiritual and religious practices in the rural Mississippi Delta region of the Southern United States, with a focus on churches, pastors and congregations, cemetery sites, and baptisms. Selected images were published in "Sacred Space: Photographs from the Mississippi Delta," and exhibited in 2008 at Duke University as "Near the Cross: Photographs from the Mississippi Delta."

The artist offers his reflection on the project: "No single institution in the Delta region has had a more profound impact on the entire culture of the Mississippi Delta than the countless African-American churches that accent the landscape. The ubiquitous presence of these churches and their adjoining cemeteries and churchyards - these sacred spaces - constitutes a kind of three-dimensional iconography in an otherwise profane agricultural landscape. Landmarks to some, places of spiritual refuge to others, 'home church' to their devoted members, these centers of religious and social life have been planned, built, decorated, and maintained by local communities for heartfelt reasons...Thus the look and life of the church, inside and out, reflect the attitudes, beliefs, aspirations, and realities of the community...The church survives not only as a place of worship, but also as a symbol to the membership of a sacred home where a formal commitment to religion began, where family meets, and where forebears once gathered."

The prints in this series come in many sizes and processes: 11x14 inch unmatted black-and-white gelatin silver prints (box 2); 11x14 gelatin silver prints in 16x20 inch mats (box 7); 16x20 inch unmatted prints (boxes 4-5); and 16x20 inch gelatin silver prints in 20x24 inch mats (box 6). Prints in Box 3 are 8 1/2 x 11 contact prints, with slight variations, in 11x14 inch window mats; there are a few prints in this group that have larger finished print versions in the collection. Within size categories, prints are arranged in order as assigned by the photographer. All titles are original.

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