Feature Articles

June Issue 1999

 

Photography Exhibit At USC's McKissick Museum

 

 

Photographer Stanley Lanzano captures the vitality, spirituality and identity of small African-American churches in rural, coastal South Carolina in an exhibit being presented at the University of South Carolina's McKissick Museum.

Lord, I Wish I Had a Prayin' Church Tonight is a series of black-and-white photographs depicting revivals, meetings, funerals and other rituals at several African-American churches in Georgetown, SC. The exhibition will be on display through Sept. 12.

Lanzano, a Boulder, CO, resident, who visited to SC several years ago, was fascinated by the simple beauty of St. Ann Church, a rural church in Georgetown that originally served slaves on the Arcadia Plantation, and the emotion and spirituality of its members. Struck by these qualities, he began his artistic journey that led him to other coastal African-American churches.

"The cadence of the music is beautiful, as are the prayers and songs of the people," says Lanzano. "I am taken by the expressions of sadness and hope and by their unflinching devotion. The little church's windows were steaming each night when I left."

McKissick's curatorial staff cites the "freshness, vitality and, above all, the unposed quality" of Lanzano's work. The exhibit is accompanied by recordings of gospel music that Lanzano heard at the churches during his travels. Together, the music and photography convey the importance of the church in African-American cultural life.

A self-taught photographer, Lanzano was born in Yonkers, NY, in 1940 and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from St. Mary's College and Yale University.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call the museum at 803/777-7251.

 

 

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