John Palcewski
Dan Mitchell, Interior York Minster Shots of church interiors always
seem to me to be an exploitation of the power of religious people's
faith than on the visual material itself. Which is to say that
somehow the less-religious viewer is somehow obliged to treat these
pictures with a sort of reverence or approval that other subject
material does not. Non-believers are expected, even demanded to be
respectful, but then I imagine far too many Christians would not in
turn feel obliged to give the same respect toward the interior of,
say, a mosque.
Re-reading John's comment made me think of situations where I have been
shown what I consider to be tasteless religious kitsch such as shrines to
Ganesha, gaudily painted statues of Rama or such. No different to me that
plastic crucified Christs or plaster Madonnas .. these always seemed a
world of different to the elegance of some churches !
I'm sure the displeasure showed on my face in each instance, and whatever
reverence was expected, it was not forthcoming.. Bad me.
I was also told of an occasion were a friend of mine for the first time
visited the peasant town in Italy from where his parents emigrated. He
recalled the reverent tone in which his parents spoke of the local church
and recounted to me the regularity with which his family sent money and
goods to help them out. He explained the utter disgust that came over him
when he finally got to see this church - the opulence of the interior, the
visible health of the priests in stark contrast to the backward rural
lifestyles of the locals. However beautiful the church may have been to
the eye he could not see beyond what he termed the 'taint of parasitism'.
I guess if I, with no investment or no awareness of the history of this
church had seen it with my own eyes and no context attached, I might have
been swayed by it's beauty and found it awe inspiring..
On the other hand I've been in some local churches that I've felt bland,
ordinary and in some cases downright ugly.
If a photographer had been able to produce an image that could have made
these things attractive, I'd take my hat off to them :)
k
PS, I only recently became aware that those old Roman/Greek/Other marble
statues from antiquity, bleached white by time were originally gaudily
painted to look 'realistic'! It's hard to imagine then some of the old
churches and temples looking more like carnivals than the somber and grand
buildings as we see them today.
