Second Meeting with John Woodin

Where once there was a medicine cabinet (or two) © 2011 Sarah Barr

While I was away at residency my husband removed the medicine cabinet in our bathroom.  It's the lastest addition to a slow parade of items we've been ripping out of this room.  Of course, this daily view always reminds me of my current project.

I met with John Woodin again on Monday night. We spent time talking about the photographs from my third trip inside the church.  A few objects in the church were moved around or removed during the abatement giving me some new subjects.  A moved bench allowed for a tall cabinet to open revealing a found still life of glass vases.  I made three negatives of them and they all have strange light forms that my eyes did not see. 

Seriously dusty glass vases © 2011 Sarah Barr

I also moved objects myself to provide better light.  The altar area had a folding table and chair, some joint compound buckets and tools.  I photographed the area with and without these.  The life-size cross I had photographed during my second visit was laying cross side down on the ground.  I wanted to photograph it again so that the handles were visible and the footrest more apparent.

Staging (?) Cross © 2011 Sarah Barr

John and I discussed his book City of Memory and the handmade versions he had made before the Center for American Places published it.  He also showed me a handmade book (below) he created with his wife artist Amy Orr of his mother's rosaries after they were pulled from her post-Katrina house that I can't stop thinking about.

© John Woodin

© John Woodin

At the end of the evening John showed me how to use a medium format camera he is lending me.  So let's see how I do with a square format.  Film has been ordered and is on its way.

Desanctified - June 2011 Residency

(St. Joseph's side) © Sarah Barr

Below are a few of the images that I brought with me for the June 2011 residency.  In the weeks prior to residency I made photographs of this former church building and then presented them at AIB with the working title of "Desanctified".

My initial goal was to document as much of the interior before the building is demolished. While I love the effects of the elements and time on abandoned structures, I'm drawn to the images where something has been removed, like the altar on Saint Joseph's side (above).  Its ornate sculptural altar was removed leaving only a flat trace behind.  This physical record of loss is the direction I'll be pursuing.

(stairway to balcony) © 2011 Sarah Barr

(balcony) © 2011 Sarah Barr

(confessional) © 2011 Sarah Barr

(church debt collection envelope) © 2011 Sarah Barr

(attic) © 2011 Sarah Barr

Back in the Church

© 2011 Sarah Barr

After coordinating the schedules of four adults and two children, I made it back into the church yesterday.  My friend Lisa and I signed release forms and waited for our chaperone to unscrew the plywood from the door behind the altar. (Someone had to find a drill for him since the building had been broken into the previous night and tools were stolen).

I photographed with my large format view camera and my 35mm.  I took some shaky, amateurish video with my little handheld digital camera too.  A lot of yesterday was about salvaging items from the church before it comes down.  I'm hoping to use these items for still life images and possibly an installation.  Below are some of the items we loaded in my trunk including an offerings basket, confessional screen with sliding door, pew end, candles and my favorite organs toes.  I've been wiping them down one at time and bringing them inside the studio.  

© 2011 Sarah Barr

Special thanks to Lisa for doing backbreaking work among decades-old dirt, piles of pigeon droppings and a light dusting of blue paint flecks.