I’ve been working on a photo project for the last 13 or 14 years now. The body of work doesn’t have a title yet, but I’ve been calling it my Religious Graffiti work. It is basically messages and signs with the word God or Jesus in it.
What makes it interesting is the fact that these aren’t formal signs on church property. They are spray painted in a Miami back alley, nailed to a tree on a lonely road or tattooed on an arm. They are more or less guerilla messages to the public, some of them done illegally! I like the complex nature of the work, how the message is supposed to be so pure and true, but the fact that some of the creators had to deface public property and break the law to do it… it is very compelling to me.
Of course, the world is too big for any idea to be new. Over the years, I’ve seen other people with similar bodies of work, most of them smaller and/or less compelling. However, my mother called me today. She ran across a book called Bible Road: Signs of Faith in the American Landscape. Photographed by Sam Fentress, the book contains work that apparently dates back 25 years. Like I said (and like John Lennon said before me), everything has been done before.
You can see some of his book here, in pdf form:
It is very good. I think I’ll buy a copy, or at least ask for a copy as a birthday present. And, I never really saw a book with my work. My plan was always to do a gallery show and print the pieces big. I’ll eventually get around to doing it, but art sales and this economy don’t really mix. Or, maybe I’m just trying to come up with a good reason to not formally show the work yet?!? I’ve been putting it off for several years, hoping to hit a few more states and get a few more images first. I better not wait too long…
Here are some samples of my religious graffiti work:
