MELISSALAND

I was going through the 2008 winners of the Camera Club of New York’s Juried National Competition and was surprised to find MY personal pick of the bunch was not one of their 1st, 2nd or 3rd place winners, but one of their honorable mentions: Toni Greaves.

Here are images from Greaves series, Radical Love, which explores the reasons why the nuns, both young and old, of The Monastary of Our Lady of the Rosary have chosen to lead a cloistered life.

There is also a video which I found curious - in it one of the young women describes the moment she knew this calling to be hers, when upon listening to her favorite song play on youtube, the lyrics called out ” will you marry me”.

I enjoy getting a glimpse into lives I otherwise would never see, such as that of a young nun. This series reminded me of another around the theme of religion that I simply LOVE. It is by a photographer named Przemyslaw Pokrycki and the series is titled, Rites of Passage. I’ve been meaning to post about it for ages 

My stupid computer is not letting me take screenshots of more images and it is far too late for me to spend doing this anyway (its now after 2am and I need to catch a train at 7), but promise me you will go through the entire series (there are baptisms, then first communions, then weddings and finally funerals) - it is an EXCELLENT series and I hope to show them at the gallery one day.

http://www.photo.sittcomm.sk/pokrycki_rites.htm

Seriously, have still yet to see work that has excited me as much as these photos in a long time. Each shot is both hilarious and beautiful - I found myself going through them finding odd + lovely details each and every time (notice the plethora of plastic soda containers at each wedding table!) - the cultural nuances are what I love most and Pokrycki captures these Polish families in such a wonderful way that it suddenly becomes easy to imagine your own seat at their table. His statement for the series notes how these universal rituals tie humans together, despite the sometimes vast cultural differences between us. You certainly can not escape the power of such life passages, no matter who you are or where you live…..

(yay! computer let me paste one more. goodnight!)