Commemorative Home Altar in shape of a boat

Are you religious? Absolutely, in a spiritual sense. This is more than a photographic documentation project for you? The home environments, the arrangements of objects and images, and the overall aura are very familiar. Walking through the threshold of a house there is a sense of entering a special place, a sacred one. There is a presence in the rooms even if you are alone.

How did you first connect with the Club?

In 1992 I saw a notice in the Gloucester Daily Times "Goings On" column that the Mother of Grace club would be saying the rosary on a Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m., followed by coffee. Having just moved to Cape Ann, I was intrigued by a club with that name running a notice in the paper. I went with my two daughters who were eight and three at the time. The women were singing hymns in wonderful Italian harmonies in front of a statue of the Blessed Mother. It was unusual for outsiders and complete strangers to participate but they were welcoming, made sure we were well fed, and sent the girls home with plates of cookies. Of course, I didn't make pictures during that first visit. I went back several times to talk about the club's history and to gain their trust in order to introduce a camera to the environment.

How did you introduce the camera?

At first I thought that I would photograph the women. I began to call the members of the Mother of Grace club "mothers of grace" because of their hospitality, graciousness, and overall demeanor. I had the sense that they walked a few inches off the ground because their faith created an atmosphere of good will and genuine kindness.

Maria Grillo at the Mother of Grace Club's shrine to the Blessed Mother

Since they were so humble, I found that they were hesitant to be subjects of photographs. 'When I suggested that perhaps I could photograph their homes and shrines, the members of the club became eager to open their houses to me. Up to this point I was a virtual stranger. I felt honored by how they allowed me, a man, unconditional access to their most personal spaces. They also told me their life stories. As the process of working with a large camera is lengthy, friendships developed during the many hours we spent together.

Are there physical and aesthetic patterns that you have observed in these environments?

They often have photographs and other mementos of family, past and present, images of the sea and the community in which they live, a whole array of religious and spiritual artifacts. I see a template. It's the person's actual family life in the present coupled with devotional images which nourish their spiritual beliefs.

They are generally very dense with seemingly illogical juxtapositions of objects such as a large plastic fish next to a picture of a bride and groom kissing at their wedding. They are well-designed and balanced with an intuitive, natural, and poetic sensibility.

They generally occupy the central place in the home - the top of the TV, the mantel of the fireplace, the vestibule of the house, bedroom bureaus.

Is there a hierarchal structure? Do the arrangements tend to have a central focus?

Typically the central image is either the photograph of an ancestor or a religious figure. These are sometimes mixed in with celebrities like Elvis, JFK, or Madonna (not the Madonna). The overriding theme that I see in these images is a reverence for ancestors and family.

Can you describe the features of the homes that have attracted your interest?

The installations that these women have created are inspired spaces. It's folk art but it's more. There is an aura of human and spiritual presence that is very real. It's intensely personal. It's about a husband's cancer, or death by drowning, the birth of a grandchild, celebrations of many kinds, and the arrangements are always changing. They become mirrors for all of us. Many of the objects convey what I call the "ceremonies of memory." As humans we have the ability to be in different places at the same time through our imaginations and memories. I can be in past and present at the same time. The creators of the spaces that I photograph surround themselves with objects which envelop them in meaning and memory.

Entryway to the Fontana home with saints and personal artifacts

For many in our digital age these images might seem old-fashioned. I am not trying to go back to another time. The photographs are contemporary, although they may appear out of sync with mainstream American society. I am intrigued with how these settings are consistent with other places in the world that I have visited while doing my field research. When people in the United States look at my work, they often see the Gloucester photographs as the most foreign because we are so out of touch with the realities that I document.

In a larger sense, we realize how small the differences between people are. The Gloucester photographs depict a community that has survived and nurtured itself through difficult times. The Mother of Grace project has taken me full circle. My grandparents were both immigrants from Italy and so this material is deeply familiar to me. It's been a Wizard of Oz experience in which the whole world of my interests is right here in Gloucester.

You've made photographs in Mexico, Vietnam, and India, and yet some of your most exotic images are created in your hometown.

Photographing this type of phenomena in other parts of the world probably results from experiencing it here. I travel with my family history. Perhaps the absence of something creates a longing to look for it elsewhere. But the "mothers of grace" have shown me that it is always here. It's right here. It's in our lives already. It's in our backyards.

Text and interview by Shaun McNiff, author of Art as Medicine, Trust the Process: An Artistic Guide to Letting Go, Earth Angels: Engaging the Sacred in Everyday Things, and other books dealing with the creative process. He is the Provost of Endicott College, an internationally recognized figure in the creative arts therapies, and a painter who lives in Gloucester.