Guide, New Testament Baptist Church, Ypsilanti, Michigan

In this photograph by North Carolina artist Titus Brooks Heagins, an usher leans against a door during a church service. Ushers often greet people and help them find seats. Heagins suggests that they also play an important role in church life. He describes ushers as guides who help lead others along a path of faith. 

Heagins focuses on the usher’s white-gloved hands in this image. The top part of the man’s body, including his face, is not shown. By leaving out these details, Heagins directs the viewer’s attention to the usher’s hands and their symbolic role. The artist has explained that showing the man’s face might have distracted from the message of the photograph.

This image is an example of fine art documentary photography. This style of image-making captures real moments from everyday life. At the same time, the artist uses careful choices in framing and composition to share feeling and meaning. 

I am a fine art documentary photographer. My artistic intent is to confront viewers in their personal spaces to move the position of “Otherness” closer to their normative construction of self. My photography continues to evolve as it interrogates the spaces of race, gender, sexual orientation, ageism, class, and religion. 

Titus Brooks Heagins

Guide, New Testament Baptist Church, Ypsilanti, Michigan is part of Heagins’s 20-year photography project, “One God, One Faith, One Baptism.” This series shows important moments in African American church life. The photos include scenes of Sunday services, tent revivals, baptisms, and funerals.

During his career Heagins has photographed people throughout North Carolina and the southwestern United States. He has also worked in Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, the Caribbean, and China, creating a wide range of photographs. He currently lives and works in Durham.

Tags: NC art, NC artist, North Carolina