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Photograph exhibit gives artistic depiction of Catholic nuns

'The Convent Series' explores relationship between secular and

Clara Gutsche's photographs of Catholic nuns capture the intimate rituals of worship and community as well as the psychology of the convent's architectural spaces.

Through both color and black-and-white photography, Gutsche's "The Convent Series," on exhibit through June 11 at the Center for Creative Photography, documents nuns in every aspect of their daily life, from watching TV to meditating.

The architectural spaces and details of her photographs begin to function on a metaphorical level in her photographs of parlors.

In "The Large Parlour, Les Aervantes de Jˇsus-Marie, Hull" (1992) a single round table with four black chairs is placed in the center of a room, which is lined with pale wood chairs facing away from the center. In the background, nuns stand behind a wire barrier that encloses the room.

Beyond documentation, the photograph seems to compare and contrast ideas of spirituality as an individual and personal act versus a communal event. The distant presence of the nuns in relation to the room suggests an internal struggle.

In a neighboring work, "The Large Parlour, Les Soeurs Adoratices du Prˇcieux" (1994), nuns in orange robes look in on a similar room, but in this convent, the table is replaced by a pillar. The pillar, as well as the isolated chairs, become metaphors for support of the body and the church.

When viewed in relation to the other parlors, these aspects begin to define an intimate and universal relationship with the central figure of the Church.

In all of these works, the highly polished hard surfaces of floor and wood, as well as the clean white walls, become symbolic of the Nuns' separation from worldly luxury and comfort, evoking the religious emphasis of the spiritual over the physical.

This feeling of self-discipline is captured in Gutsche's "Cell, Les Soeurs Carmˇlites, Triois Riviˇres" (1991), in which a lone nun sits in her living cell meditating on two books. Her hands are folded in a prayer-like pose against her mouth.

The crisp and bare surfaces of bed and table mimic those of her robe and invoke a disparity between her body, mind and thoughts.

Although the subject of the photograph is a single person in meditation, the presence of the community is felt through the simple architecture of the room and a cross that hangs on the wall, uniting two portraits.

In "The Large Parlour, Les Soeurs de la Visitation, Ottawa" (1992), a nun stands behind square bars checkered with crosses. She addresses the camera with a secretive facial expression and behind her a painting of a nun with a halo echoes her pose.

The posture of the woman and the painting suggest the longing for eternity - not the eternity captured by art but that of the soul.

Through Gutsche's graceful compositions and eye for detail, the photographs become more than a tribute to the pious lives of nuns. These photographs speak of the accomplishments of women.