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Soul Sanctuary:

Images of the African American Worship Experience
Photographs by Jason miccolo johnson

December 13, 2006 – March 18, 2007

“Like multitudes of other black youths, Jason Miccolo Johnson has obviously lived through those emotional and religious rituals that lent shape not only to this life but to the larger black experience as well. Now, through the devout eye of his camera, he recaptures past moments of sacred worship. And he chooses to call the magnificent collection “Soul Sanctuary.”

Gordon Parks

Soul Sanctuary: Images of the African American Worship Experience 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 church, yet peers through the window of today’s contemporary church setting. Ten years and fifteen thousand images ago, this photographic odyssey started in Memphis and has taken thirty-year veteran photographer, Jason Miccolo Johnson, from historic churches in New York City to mega-churches in Dallas, and from the dusty back roads of the Mississippi Delta to the sun-drenched freeways of California. The exhibition also includes photographs made at a number of churches in the Hampton Roads area.

Johnson is a nationally known award-winning documentary, editorial, and fine art photographer and 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 his new exhibition, Soul Sanctuary, shot exclusively in black and white using available light. Johnson devised innovative methods to resolve the challenge of capturing action and reactions of the subjects and the spirit of the environment in low-light situations. He has created a unique photographic style called “hush tones” whereby he renders a pleasing balance between darker skin tones and white uniforms while holding the details of both.

Jason Miccolo Johnson ( American, b. 1956) Deaconess Marsha Jackson, a member of the St. Paul Voices Choir lifts her arms in praise at St. Paul Baptist  Church, Capitol Heights, Maryland, 2004 (c) 2006 Jason Miccolo Johnson, Soul Sanctuary (Bulfinch Press)

The exhibition mirrors the chronological format of the typical worship day to illustrate the commonality of the black Christian worship experience between multiple denominations. Soul Sanctuary is organized into six themes beginning with “Preparation” and ending accordingly with “Benediction.” Each illustrates familiar scenes of worship and travels behind the scene into areas of the church very few parishioners ever see, such as the pastor’s study just prior to the start of service or the preparation and clean-up room before and after communion.

Jason Miccolo Johnson (American, b. 1956) Liturgical dancers leap into “sanctified air” during the ceremonial groundbreaking service for the new Metropolitan Baptist Church, Largo, Maryland, 2003 (c) 2006 Jason Miccolo Johnson, Soul Sanctuary (Bulfinch Press)

Johnson is a native Memphian, a Howard University alumnus and in 2001 attended the Truth With A Camera Workshop, held every August at the Chrysler Museum. For the last 27 years he has lived in Washington D.C. The exhibition, on view in the Alice and Sol B. Frank Photography Galleries, is accompanied by a book of the same name published by Bulfinch Press.

 

 

 

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