The Stone Faces Project

Cemeteries and the memorials within them fascinate me.  For most, they represent that last bit of tangible evidence that one once existed.  It is a unique spot that celebrates who we were or aspired to be in the life that was lived.  Simultaneously they capture our hopes and prayers for what the afterlife may bring.  For most, that marker is a simple piece of stone or bronze.  It lists our names, dates of our lives and a few bits of text or imagery that we or our loved ones identified with as uniquely resonant. 

Then there is the statuary, the sculpture of angels, saviors, Madonnas, or likenesses of the celebrated soul.  They are gestures unto themselves.  I have been photographing cemetery statuary for as long as I have owned a camera, seeking to catalog the variety, but more importantly, inferring the impulses that led to their creation.  Some pieces are catalog ordered, a fixed set of benevolent effigies mixed and matched with pedestals of various stature and style. 

I have found in my exploration, there are equally as many custom commissions.  Often times these commissions are for the prominent or prosperous members of society, but this is not the whole story.  Imagery in stone or bronze is often the product of a grief unbearable, expressed by loved ones of lesser means.  Memories of loved ones lost too soon… Husbands, Wives … Children.  A snapshot of the happiest memory or an expression of prayer for the final and greatest unknown.

The Stone Faces Project is a visual collection of my thoughts and feelings collected as I sought to explore and understand these memorial tributes.  This digital selection has been collected over the past 10 years at cemeteries big and small in the Midwest and South as well as internationally in Prague and Venice.  My hope is to observe, capture and connect with the emotions that led to the creation of these memorial icons.

This project ongoing.