Curator's Introduction

The final presentation is from the Church of the Advent in Spartanburg, South Carolina . It consists of fourteen color photographs taken in the Fall of 2001 of scenes from Ground Zero, New York City. They were taken by parishioners of the church on a mission trip to minister at St. Paul’s Chapel providing respite service for workers at the site. The Rev. Michael Sullivan conceived of the idea for the Stations and selected the images from of pool of parishioner's
photographs.These images are very personal for the group and relate to the fourteen Stations of the Cross as they were perceived in the context of the surrounding destruction. As Suzanne Zoole, parishioner and co-ordinator for the exhibition, writes: "The exhibit was done originally for our own parish and we knew many of the particulars of when, who, etc." Photography as an art form is a well established fact. Increasingly we will discover a wide range of uses for the medium as digital technology becomes more affordable and user-friendly. In the photography here presented by the Church of the Advent, we see it being used to document an experience of this particular parish, allowing it to be shared with others of their community who were not present and with the wider public. As viewers we might not be able to appreciate the connection between a specific photograph and a specific scene from Jesus's passion and death but as with abstract images we trust that for the artist (photographer) there is a direct connection. For the missioners from the Church of the Advent these photographs, in their graphic portrayal of the result of hatred and wanton disregard for human life, represent identification with Jesus's suffering at the time of his crucifixion. It seems fitting that we end this ECVA exhibition with these photographs because they are a foretaste of the direction in which the Church is moving in employing visual imagery. In response to our Christian calling to engage the Gospel in the light of the contemporary issues we face, it is challenging to imagine the ways in which individual Episcopal communities will reflect visually upon their journeys in faith. Episcopal visual artists will continue to offer their creative gifts as made manifest in whatever media they use. New technology, however, will allow for an ever broadening means of both creating new digitally based images as well incorporating more traditional art forms into liturgy, educational programming and architectural design and decoration. We are entering an exciting new era of Evangelism in which the Gospel story of God's love and salvation can be conveyed through the advancement of technology to a world both increasingly sophisticated about visual presentation but still longing for the Good News in Jesus Christ.

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