Walking in The Light

Walking in the Light is John Cohen's photographic journey towards and through gospel music. From 1954 to 1964 he photographed in the black churches of East New York, on the streets of New Haven, in the home of blind Reverend Gary Davis, as well as in the darkness of a boxing gym and the blackness of coal shovelers at an industrial site. Of all these images, those of worshippers at a small church in Harlem form the emotional centerpiece of Cohen's journey, where music leads to spiritual release in trances and dances. The last destination of this odyssey is Johns Island, South Carolina, where Gullah children connect to African ancestors through games and play. Cohen's photographs of musical performances in religious settings reflect the inner sound expressed on the face of a singer, a soulful expression, the quality of light that illuminates the face of a child, or the intensity of a prayer. Sound, song and religious feeling are permanently rendered in black and white.

John Cohen, born in 1932 in New York, is a photographer, filmmaker and musician. An MFA graduate from Yale University School of Fine Arts, Cohen was active in the artistic circles of late-1950s and early-1960s New York, and worked with Robert Frank on his film "Pull My Daisy" (1959). Steidl has published Cohen's Past Present Peru (2010), The High and Lonesome Sound. The Legacy of Roscoe Holcomb (2012) and Here and Gone. Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie & the 1960s (2014).