Electronic Church (1980)
In January of 1980, I had one final semester before I graduated with my BFA in May. With my December series, I had my required thesis project completed for graduation. Still, I decided to do a 2nd series for a double final thesis project.
I was interested in doing a project that explored appropriation and commented on popular culture.
Religion is always a touchy subject, but I had grown up attending church regularly, so I began searching out and following independent religious broadcasts on the smaller UHF stations. I was interested in documenting some of the messaging of these programs.
I also found interesting the lower budget effects used on these shows, sometimes mixed with a station’s lower signal strength and the crappy reception of my second hand TV. As I started photographing these evangelical programs, I came to realize that by juxtaposing images, I could better comment on what I was observing. This is where my use of multiple frames in a single photographic piece begins.
