Acknowledgments




I would like to thank my project advisor Dr. Christine
Kovic for her wonderfully insightful comments and suggestions on reading
material as I endeavored to produce this report. Her enthusiasm and ideas
on project development encouraged me to envision a socially useful photographic
exhibition at a time when all I could see in front of me was a monumental
disarray of images. She was instrumental in the production of my exhibition
and encouraged me to display this work in other venues. Dr. Mike McMullen
has been a great source of information on religious studies and has given
me helpful contacts. His interest in investigating the cultural nuances
of different faiths compelled me to pursue less well known religions such
as the Pagan and Zoroastrian groups. His sociological perspective influenced
the quantitative aspect of this research; without statistical references,
the visual depiction of the rich diversity of religion in Houston would
have been scientifically deficient. Dr. Douglas Holmes, my first project
advisor, long ago impressed upon me the notion that visual anthropology
was an exciting and vital science, and encouraged me to pursue it, even
when I wasn't quite sure what contribution I could make through it. He was
the originator of the idea to investigate cultural diversity in Houston,
adroitly diverting me from the potentially frustrating attempt to get a
good grasp of Romani culture in two semesters. His relentless pursuit of
words that poetically describe ideas sparked in me a desire to improve my
own writing. His alternative use of words to create devastatingly convincing
arguments bore out my suspicion that he is indeed a sanguine postmodernist.
Van Edwards has a wonderfully keen and sensitive eye. He has been instrumental
in helping me polish my documentary style of photographing, and his wholehearted
support of this project has spurred to me to continue taking my camera into
new religious spaces. He is a patient and thoughtful editor, with tireless
enthusiasm and energy. His vast wealth of knowledge about things spiritual-ideologies,
personalities,



--end of page i--



events-helped ground my research on the question of how
and why people of diverse cultural backgrounds pursue the purpose and meaning
of life through religious experience. His uncompromising integrity reminds
me that it is possible and even necessary to portray human beings with dignity
and respect, that it is more important to express compassion through practice
than to just depict it through photographs. Basilios Poulos first saw my
work in visual anthropology while I was a BFA student at Rice University.
His abstract-expressionist sensibility ferreted out the textural elements
in my initial black-and-white photographs, and he was one of the first to
suggest I switch to color film. His painter's eye compelled me to examine
more closely the light and form of religious architecture and challenged
me to transfer that vision onto film. When I needed a fresh and non-academic
viewpoint, his thought-provoking artist's perspective refocused my vision
and urged me to follow my artist's instinct when selecting one photograph
over another. I could not have made a provocative visual representation
of the diversity of religion in Houston without his extensive knowledge
of city neighborhoods and religious spaces. 



 



Dedication



 



I would like to dedicate this project to the congregants
and religious leaders who welcomed me into their sanctuaries and graciously
allowed me to photograph them during their time of worship and meditation.
They opened the doors of their churches and homes and invited me to experience
their spirituality through their particular religious customs. They allowed
me to cross over the cultural bridge that separates but at the same time
connects our different social backgrounds and urged me to participate in
the mundane as well as sacred events that define their lives. Amazingly,
they permitted me to enter with my camera and consented to being observed,
examined, and finally transliterated into color pictures. 



--end of page ii--



 



Abstract



 



This visual project is an experimental work that utilizes
still photography as the principal tool of ethnographic investigation for
examining religious diversity in Houston. It is experimental in that it
challenges traditional anthropological notions of data collection and organization.
The conventional method emphasizes the written word, thereby striving to
concretize particular concepts and ideas. The utilization of photographs
as principal ethnographic data, on the other hand, is a technique of recording
and collecting information that employs visual language. Through this qualitative
method, photography evokes the nuances of (religious) systematic behavior
and allows the viewer to consider cultural questions such as those pertaining
to ethnic identity, religious or other group affiliation, and geographical
origin and location, unfettered by the descriptive and culturally weighted
nature of words. This project endeavors to communicate the cultural codes
of religious life through still photographs made in various places of worship
throughout the greater Houston area, such as the Zoroastrian Association
of Houston, Kindred of Asatrú (Pagan group), South Wind Baptist Church,
Jade Buddha Temple, and St. Vladimir's Russian Orthodox church.



--end of page iii--