Janan Taylor
June 20, 2024
A Port Melbourne pastor hopes a photography project will encourage his parishioners to better identify themselves as religious people.
The Reverend Joseph Emmanuel, deacon at Holy Trinity Church in Port Melbourne, took portrait photographs that captured the spirituality on the faces of parishioners in the church.
Emanuel hopes the photos will allow people to learn something new about themselves and each other, and spark reflection and conversation about faith.
He said many members have negative feelings about themselves, but the portraits help them see the good in themselves.
“These are older people, and for them, it was a new journey to develop an inner relationship with those photographs. The photographs evoked all kinds of emotions, memories and in some cases even healing, as they opened the door to self-acceptance,” Emanuel said.
“I began to feel like God wanted me to paint more portraits to show their better side.”
He worked as a fine art photographer in his spare time and would often observe how the natural light in churches reflected the faces of worshippers.
He said this was what inspired him to photograph parishioners and that he was inspired by a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins called “Jesus and His Face in Ten Thousand Places.”
Read more: ‘Meet Jesus’ project helps church members share their faith
Helen Barry, a member of Holy Trinity Church and participant in the project, said the display of the photographs in the church had sparked a lot of discussion among parishioners.
Barry said he was more fascinated by the expressions on the faces of his fellow worshippers depicted in the portraits.
The photos reveal their inner lives and vulnerabilities, she said.
Barry said learning more about each person and their journey will help parishioners feel closer to one another.
She said the project has prompted her to reflect more deeply on her own journey.
“It made me think about my history in the church and why I’m an Anglican – something I’d never thought about before,” Barry said.
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