Part I

Houses of Worship

A Visual Typological Study

(complete)

Houses of worship line Oakland’s multicultural landscape. In their ascendency, religious leaders did not imagine a time when the faithful would no longer come to services. However, attendance has declined significantly in recent years. As their windows go dark, these structures become monuments to their decline.

I began photographing Houses of Worship to highlight the coexisting faiths and cultures in Oakland and investigate the decline of faith globally. As an impoverished city situated next to a wealthier one, Oakland has a higher rate of violence, drug use, and homelessness. Yet, for many Oakland residents, houses of worship have historically provided much-needed social, psychological and material support. Religious fervor can be the source of many horrors; however, faith-based institutions have also brought different people together and helped them make sense of their lives and their role in their communities. As a photographer, I tried to approach each house of worship with no bias or judgment, allowing viewers to form their own opinions.

Over the past two years, I created a visual registry of over 450 individual images of houses of worship. These include traditional churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, and fringe spaces dedicated to everything ranging from spiritual sex to psychedelic mushrooms. This project reveals an incredible history of faiths coexisting in close proximity, reflected in a mix of architectural styles in North and East Oakland and smaller storefronts in the South. Many images portray architectural decay, with buildings abandoned, closed, or poorly maintained. Others appear to be locked behind metal bars except for a few hours of weekly service, repurposed for business, or converted to residential real estate.

Houses of Worship points to broader conversations on the shifting role of faith in contemporary society. Can the institutions behind these once-beloved spaces evolve, or will they crumble beneath the sands of time? Who is replacing these institutions' role in supporting communities in need? And is a loss of faith tantamount to a loss of community and identity?

Part II

Spiritual Leaders

(in progress)

Born from a conversation among friends, the desire to understand who the spiritual leaders are was the spark for this project.

Nicolò Sertorio and J Michael Tucker chose to collaborate, with the idea that two separate perspectives would complement each other by offering alternative views. Nicolò arrived in the Bay Area in 1999 from Europe and J Michael was born and raised here. Each brings a different understanding and aesthetic. Both are united in the belief that spirituality is needed to unite us and give us meaning, but religion needs to evolve.

Why are there so many places of worship in the city of Oakland, and yet there is more violence than ever? Why is attendance lower than ever? Can the current spiritual leaders provide answers, offer solutions, guide us forward? And so, who are they, as people, spiritually, and as members of the community?

With the addition of audio interviews, both personalities and ideologies are brought forward.

Political and ideological divides are bringing the conversation about religion vs spirituality to the front line, both locally and globally, making this conversation ever more important.