Page 10 - Priorities #24 2003-October

Flight of the Eye: the photographic journey
A 61-piece exhibit of the photographic work of two Benedictine monks—Father Martin of Woodside Priory and Brother Paul Diveny of St. Mary’s Abbey and the Delbarton School, Morristown, New Jersey, opened at St Anselm College’s Chapel Art Center on Sept. 18 for a four-week showing. Special events will include a musical evening, a special tour and lecture session, and Father Martin’s meeting with St. Anselm art students. The writing below is Father Martin’s personal statement about his art, and it speaks also to the nature of the St.Anselm exhibit. These photos are from the exhibit and his personal collection.
In much of the iconography of monastics, the monk is portrayed as having both head and eyes cast downward in a pose of reflection and humility. Indeed, the monk is warned during monastic training to keep careful custody of the eyes lest distractions draw away from heavenly thoughts.
But it is equally fair to say that the eye which is trained to see the image of God in the beauty of creation and the handiwork of men and women may lead the viewer to a closer relationship with the One Who is
the Creator. Thus the eye may fall upon an ancient headstone in a forgotten cemetery, a gnarled face, a broken window, and fly to the source of the stories they imply.
In my course I teach high school juniors and seniors to be visual story tellers, to see the story in a situation and to compose photographs which will move the viewer to reflect, imagining the unseen details of the story.
It is my hope that these few images may be a source of enjoyment for you, the viewer, and perhaps one or more may suggest a story or set a mood which will touch you in some good way.
May your eye take flight.
Father Martin, O.S.B.
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—C. Dobervich