Kinslow+first+installation+proposal

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For my first installation I have chosen to look at images of acts of religious devotion/ ceremonies to that effect. I collected my images from The Flickr database using the original photographs of several different users and compiling them into my own “Favorites” slideshow. Some of the authors/photographers have offered up more information about the context of their particular image and I will include this whenever possible. The images are numbered 1-10 in accordance with the order they appear in my Flickr slideshow.

This is a black and white image of children at the Skoger Sunday School in Sorum, South Dakota in August 1948. Of 13 students who received awards from the school nine of them were present at the church to receive them at the time of the photograph. This image comes to us from the TALC Board of Parish Education, Sunday School at Home photo album, ca. 1947-1950. It is an ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church Archives) image. Their website is [|www.elca.org/archives]

This is a colorful image of young male Buddhist monks in Laos. This is a vacation photograph taken by the user Ben who includes this caption with his work “//Their lifestyle is shaped so as to support their spiritual practice, to live a simple and meditative life. In Thailand the buddhist are being more strict to the simple life than in Loas where monks even drink fruitshakes ;-)”// Ben is from Amsterdam where he currently resides, he started taking photos at age 8 and has come along way now that he is married with two kids, sorry ladies! Though this image is not really representative of religious devotion I like the modality questions that are raised by us seeing an image of these guys sipping on some take-out smoothies. Anchor: __[]__  Uploaded Oct 15th, 2008


 * 1) 3) This is a family photo of a precious little girl at her first communion (specifically at a Catholic service) it was taken by her mother Flickr user dora_marie a mother of four and special needs teacher residing in the French quarter of Quebec. It was uploaded on November 26, 2007 and is currently anchored here: []


 * 1) 4) Another family photo here though the quality is not as stunning as some of the previous ones, this is an image of a Christian baptism being held informally in the ocean at the beach. The user’s caption is as follows “Will is a young man from my church who was baptized today along with Dedicus and my niece, Michelle. Pastors Jim Pelletier, left, and my brother, Shawn Crowley and his wife Donna, did the honors! Despite the strong rip current, it was a beautiful, perfect day for a life-changing event!” I like this image because the vacationers in the background on their boogey boards seem kind of oblivious to the rite of passage that is going on in front of them. User is celticsong22 the image was taken in Daytona, Florida and uploaded on August 10, 2008. It currently resides here: []


 * 1) 5) Set Varanasi, India. The user here is fredcan he is from Paris, France (not Paris, Texas) and is actually an avid photojournalist. His caption is as follows: “The Ganges plain can become freezing cold in winter, when the fog comes down and settles in. But as far as Hindu pilgrims are concerned, nothing could stop them from immersing themselves in the cold waters of the Ganga. Most of them will in fact visit the holy city of Kashi only once in their lifetime.” The photo was uploaded on September 1, 2009 and resides at this URL: []


 * 1) 6) This is another photo from fredcan and it shows the Ganesh Charturthi festival taking place in the “Little India” section of Paris. The Festival is a big deal, traffic is shut down for the day. A little more information contributed by the author: “The statues of Ganesh and Murugan are taken out of the small temple and placed on wooden chariots pulled by barefooted devotees around that part of the city, thus blocking traffic. Before the procession, the streets are washed with rose water and safran and some men carry cavadis, followed by women carrying camphor offerings set on fire on their heads. Piles of coconuts are placed along the way in order to be broken in front of the chariots, a ritual symbolizing the breaking of the devouts' ego in front of the God.” The festival took place on August 31st, 2008. The image is stored here: []


 * 1) 7) This is a third and final fredcan photograph showing a "kirtan" which is a Hindu tradition of devotional chanting of hymns and mantras. Fredcan explains in his caption that “It is usually accompanied by instruments such as the harmonium, the two-headed pakawaj, sometimes tabla drums, as well as karatal, or hand cymbals. It is a major practice amongst Vaisnavas (Vishnu devotees).” The photographer snapped this shot when walking through Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The shot was uploaded on July 13th 2009 and resides here: []


 * 1) 8) This is a black and white photo of a crowd gathered in Salatul Jummah (or Friday Prayers). As user Ibrahim_D explains “Jummah is not just prayers, It's like a community event. You meet people you may not see very often, you hear about community events, weddings, funerals etc.” Ibrahim took this picture in his current home of Reading, UK although he’s originally from Scotland. (Something we have in common, go Ibrahim!) IN one of his comments he states that the mosque was so full that day that prayers had to be conducted outside in order to accommodate everyone. The image was uploaded to Flickr on August 28, 2009 and is anchored here: []

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 * 1) 9) This is a picture of a self-harm religious ritual being performed in Semana, Santa, Taxco. The user is ben_golden and the photo was taken on April 6, 2007. It resides here: []======


 * 1) 10) This zany photo was taken in Fort Worth, Texas on April 19, 2008 and uploaded the next day. The caption reads as follows, “During an arts festival I came upon this woman sitting on the ground alternating between laying on the cross or hugging the cross. She was hollering at the crowd about their current and future sins. Meanwhile a man dressed in a kilt playing bagpipes circled around her over and over.” Apparently these folks got the memo that the world is turning into godless sinners. There are additional photos of this event in the album for those interested. The user who took this photo is sanne1.rm who grew up in the DFW area but has since moved to Orange County, CA (I imagine some culture shock has ensued). Anchored at: []

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