"In photographing what I see, every step of the creative process has been to develop more than merely a simple personal statement. It is my hope that any artistic vocabulary seen in my photographic images will inspire meaningful dialogues between all individuals who view them."

Here is the place... Today is the day... And NOW is the time!

   The sheer vibrancy of various African American Gospel Churches in Providence, Rhode Island motivated me to begin and to continue this ongoing photo-essay project. The subjects of my research are the people, traditions, customs and cultures of African American Gospel Churches.

   Over the course of five years, I documented the activities of congregations meeting for church services in makeshift storefront sanctuaries in small buildings throughout the aptly named City of Providence.

   African American Christians in post-slavery America established storefront churches to disguise their practices. Many of their decendants now living in and around Providence have ancestral connections to the South and to slavery, but no longer resort to hiding their beliefs and services, as witnessed here. These sincere people demonstrate a meaningful, powerful unity within Providence’s rich and strongly diverse history in the African American church community.