Faces of the Passion

Portraiture

Mar 26

I belong to a church located in the city, where our parish makeup is more diverse from other Catholic parishes in Knoxville. Our Hispanic community at Holy Ghost is a vibrant one, and one of their traditions is to re-enact the Stations of the Cross every Good Friday, following Jesus' route to His Crucifixion.

I went earlier than normal to do some portraits of those appearing in the re-enactment. My Spanish is limited but I was able to convey what I wanted them to do for my camera. Fortunately, there is an alley behind the old church next door, Holy Resurrection, that provides some good stone texture to fit the mood.

And yes, the mood is dark. The story is, after all, one of death, as well as triumph over it. In the Bible Belt where Catholicism is a minority denomination, many do not understand our devotion to the Passion. But the fact remains - there is no Resurrection without it.

And many thanks to the Hispanic community for humoring me in this project. I will be printing these for them. We had to do this quickly but they remained gracious throughout.