Come Sunday: Photographs by Thomas Roma - Hardcover

Henry Louis Gates; Thomas Roma

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0870701223 ISBN 13: 9780870701221

Publisher: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2002

Synopsis

In 1990, Thomas Roma began photographing the exterior of houses of worship in his native Brooklyn, which features more churches per square mile than any other place in the United States. One morning, the pastor of an African-American Christian church housed in a former Jewish temple invited Roma to join the congregation with his camera, explaining that God's work was not in the buildings, but in what went on inside. Roma eventually photographed more than 150 services in 52 African-American churches, richly fulfilling his desire "to make religious pictures for modern times." Only 100 copies of Come Sunday remain available, and each of these has been signed by the photographer himself.

About this title

Review:

A dramatic collection of photographs depicting the services of black churches in Brooklyn, Come Sunday illustrates the power of faith in a community riddled by unemployment, poverty, and crime. Focusing on the shine of a tooth, the thickness of a braid, the resolved tension of a hand clutching a bible, Soma uses subtle textures to mirror the diversity and complexities of the everyday humanness of his subjects. Within the walls of these sanctuaries, members of the congregation chat, crack smiles, doze, weep, cheer, and, of course, pray, all the while exhibiting extraordinary faith that, for many, lifts them above life's seemingly impossible burdens.

Review:

If one sensibility pervades the praying faces of Mr. Roma's subjects, it is absolute trust--perhaps the most dramatic evidence of faith available. -- New York Times Book Review, Alexandra Hall

About this edition

• Publisher: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0870701223
• ISBN 13: 9780870701221
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112