everything that ought to have remained
11 March 2011 - 11 April 2011
"In cooperation with the Church of St. Paul the Apostle and the Openings program, everything that ought to have remained, is a temporary installation built in a vacant altar space in the Church. An assemblage of framed images and objects, the installation is based on my project The Brothers, a 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, I will employ the location—the Church—and the time of year—Lent—to invite 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?
Church of St. Paul the Apostle
Corner of Columbus Ave + West 60th Street
New York, NY 10019
http://www.stpaultheapostle.org/
http://openingsny.com/?page_id=704
