My current exhibition, everything that ought to have remained, is a temporary installation built in a vacant altar space in the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City. An assemblage of framed images and objects, the installation is based on The Brothers, my series of photographs documenting the recent expulsion of the aged members of a Roman Catholic religious order from their home on the grounds of a former military hospital in New Mexico. The images in The Brothers series explore the men’s relationship to their physical surroundings, the rituals they adhere to, and the spiritual community they foster both among themselves and in tenuous connection with the outside world. In everything that ought to have remained, my aim is to employ the location—the Church—and the time of year—Lent—to invite to the public to reflect on the Brother’s experience of faith while pondering questions of their own. How do our physical surroundings structure our practice of faith? Is material well-being compatible with religious life? Do sacrifice and loss bring us closer to God?
A chance encounter a couple months ago with Father Frank Sabatte of the Church presented the opportunity to develop a project, based on the images from The Brothers, that would make use of this unique venue to engage a broader audience than a traditional gallery show would. In further discussion we realized that the project’s themes coincided with the themes of Lent, and decided that the exhibition would take on greater meaning when presented in the Church during that time.
Constructing a project in the chapel during Lent presented a challenge, but I am excited to have expanded my practice into this realm and to develop a project specifically for the architecture of the space and its public. Consisting of various photographs, custom wooden frames and boxes, and a selection of found objects and props I have gathered, the piece is sculptural, resembling a memorial or shrine.
On view through April 11
Church of St. Paul the Apostle
Corner of Columbus Ave & West 60th Street
New York, NY 10019
http://www.stpaultheapostle.org/
