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Janaury Issue 2008
YMI Cultural Center in Asheville, NC, Features Works by Jason Miccolo Johnson
YMI Cultural Center in Asheville, NC, is presenting the exhibit, Soul Sanctuary: Images of the African American Worship Experience, featuring works seen through the eyes of 30-year veteran photographer Jason Miccolo Johnson. The exhibit which highlights the most influential institution in the black community - the African American church - and its unique worship experience is on view through Mar. 1, 2008.
From its tradition of "call and response" to its spirited choirs and musicians, the black church is nothing short of mesmerizing. Soul Sanctuary captures the spirit of that unique worship style through arresting images of congregants' facial expressions and body language, their colorful uniforms and dress, and the dignity of their worship. Serene and exalting, pensive and inspirational, these images capture a community's spiritual poetry in motion. Baptisms, weddings, funerals, ecstatic soloists, inspired choir directors, prophetic preachers, angelic liturgical dancers, and peaceful moments of prayer and praise - these are the behind-the-scenes images that show the viewer the black church from Johnson's unique vantage point.
"Soul Sanctuary is my visual anthem to those who have preserved and found solace and strength within the black Christian church: the dedicated, the downtrodden, the dispossessed, and the faithful," comments Johnson. "I think of Soul Sanctuary as a family photo album of familiar faces in familiar places that recall warm memories of my childhood. The emotional warmth and security that come from being part of a church family that loves you for you is some of what I looked for in my documentation of black folk worship."
Soul Sanctuary captures not only the spiritual dimension of the black church, but the pride and dignity that prevails within the church-going family. It celebrates many of the iconic images reminiscent of the traditional black chruch, yet peers through the window of today's contemporary church setting. It is this celebration that is documented in Soul Sanctuary, a photographic project ten years and 15,000 images in the making, spanning twenty states and over two hundred churches. The photographs were shot using available light only.
The exhibition is organized into six sections in chronological order, much like the order of service in a typical church bulletin, beginning with "Preparation" and ending accordingly with "Benediction". Viewers witness familiar scenes of worship shared by Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, and non-denominational congregations alike.
Johnson is a nationally known award-winning documentary, editorial, and fine art photographer. The Memphis, TN, native and Howard University alumnus is perhaps best recognized for his trademark visual "call-and-response" shooting style with poignant images that focus on the subject's eyes and hands. Nowhere else is this more evident than in this new exhibition, which the late Gordon Parks called a "magnificent collection."
The YMI Cultural Center has honored and celebrated Western North Carolina's diverse cultural heritage and history for more than a century. Soul Sanctuary is cosponsored by the nine historic black churches that were founding partners of the YMI Cultural Center including: Berry Temple Methodist, Brown Temple CME, Hill Street Baptist, Nazareth First Baptist, New Bethel Baptist, New Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist, Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist, St. James AME, and Tabernacle Missionary Baptist.
A companion book of the same title is available for sale in the gallery shop.
For further information check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the center at 828/252-4614 or visit (www.ymicc.org).
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