ECVA - Catherine Kerr - Holy Presence

Upcycle

Photograph

Artist Statement: We were sight-seeing on a sunny afternoon in Amsterdam and had just passed the Rembrandt House when we stopped on a broad sidewalk to check our maps and decide where to go next.

As we talked I became aware of this couple sitting on a low ledge outside a store, engaged in animated conversation. Were they friends, co-workers, lovers? I’ll never know, but the aura of (seemingly contradictory, but maybe not) energy and calm that surrounded them caught my attention and drew me to them. There was a time not long ago when they might have been afraid to sit so close, even outside—certainly I would have been — but they looked so comfortable together it lifted my own spirits.

Bio: I caught the camera bug early on when my parents gave me a Brownie Starlet camera for my seventh birthday, and my father became my first photography teacher. Since then I’ve been mostly self taught, though I owe a debt of gratitude to a series of generous mentors whose constructive criticism over the years has challenged me to improve my technique and expand my imagination. My first published photographs were taken to illustrate my work as a newspaper reporter and freelance writer, but later, as I followed a career path that led to ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church, my intent has shifted from showing what happened to exploring what matters, and my photography has become a spiritual discipline. My work has been included in juried exhibitions including the Phillips Mill Photo Exhibition and the Jack Rosen Commemorative Documentary Photography Exhibition, and my video artist statement titled “Loving the World” was featured in Phillips Mill’s 2022 “Beyond the Frame” online exhibit. I also received an honorable mention in the 2023 Pennsylvania Magazine photography contest.