Uneasy Halos

Frank Dituri has captured this essence visually with his solitary and silent contemplation of space, of the sacred image, where faith is embraced: holy spaces glimmering with candles, windows filled with rays of sunlight that act like portals to another reality, an unknown awesome place--a destination. These are the numinous spaces that allow the average person, if they are willing, to step for a moment into another place and receive an inward grace, to step outside of chronos and enter kairos. There is no dogma in such spaces, only opportunity for encounter. Through these photographs we can discover a glimpse into the faithful spaces and expressions that have existed for centuries all over the world. People of all ages have embraced them in day-to-day rituals--baptisms, marriages, funerals, holy days--the rhythms of life lived through the church. Dituri alludes to his own imbedded memory of the image of the sacred heart of Jesus next to his childhood bed--"My mother knew Him well, told me He was good. I was scared." Faith and belief are not without fear, especially in the case of youthful minds, but also in those of adults. Dituri has said that this exhibition of photographs "deals with the mixed feelings of growing up Roman Catholic in a traditional Italian-American family... with] his sometime ambivalent feelings toward the experience with the symbolic traditions of religion vs. spirituality." When I look at these photographs, I see anything but ambivalence. They are taken with precise care, with sensitivity, and a sense of longing.