From the outside of the building, we could tell the service had already started. Heather and I tried to discreetly slip into a back pew as we came through the door, but there was nothing discreet about us: two tall photographers in dark clothing with large cameras slung over our necks. We entered through double doors, and immediately, faces in the room turned to greet us. The pastor himself even gave us a kind welcome from the pulpit. This was an environment where strangers didn’t stay strangers.

The pianist continued, and tambourines soon came out as the small congregation continued with their hymns, singing confidently through masked faces. I quietly snapped pictures in the back as the pastor spoke. When the service concluded, no one was quick to file out. Heather and I were pulled in different directions through a flurry of introductions and kind inquiries. Miss Terri Taylor, a local Greatriach and friend of the Harrison Center, was eager to show us around the building and introduce us to her friends.

Blessed Hope Baptist Church was not the only religious service we found ourselves in on a cold weekend back in March. In fact, it was one of four congregational services we attended that very day. Heather and I were among a small group of photographers working with the IUPUI’s Polis Center for an unusual assignment – to photograph local congregations. The assignment is in response to their ongoing “Project on Religion and Urban Culture 2.0,” a study that seeks to document the ways in which congregations have handled widespread societal change. We were asked to hold a lens up to organized religion in Indianapolis, with a particular interest in the ways congregations have responded with resilience to recent social change.

On the other side of town, Denis Kelly, another photographer involved in this series, was documenting very different faith practices. There is something awe-inspiring, almost mystical, about his approach to religion in Indianapolis. When I first saw his images, my immediate question was “could this really be Indy?” Kelly visited An Lac Temple, a Buddhist temple, and went as far as interviewing one participant in the gathering as he explored connections between Buddhism and Christianity.

Kelly’s journey through Indianapolis religion was unorthodox, and unexpected, as he reframed the way we consider organized religion, pointing a lens towards events like Holy Thursday at St. Michael and even a yoga gathering in Monument Circle. Kelly had an open and surprising approach to congregational religious gatherings.

Photographer Emily Persic wandered into One Fellowship as she explored her portion of the project. One Fellowship is church that has a vested interest in social poverty, and her images of these people are rendered in beautiful monochrome. Black and white images of people seem to carry a unique intimacy. Maybe it’s a result of the lack of color taking away distraction. Or, maybe we associate black-and-white images with history, and thus attribute to them a sort of automatic importance. Regardless, Persic’s choice to show these people in black and white elevates them. There’s a quietness to her images of individuals engaged in moments of sacred reflection.

You can never perfectly plan on what images you will get when you walk into a new place with a camera and an open perspective. This makes photodocumentary such a potentially powerful artform, and one that you can’t control with preconceived expectations.

Resilient, like many such photo projects, does not depict a cookie-cutter understanding of faith. The congregations depicted, even those sharing similarities, host a variety of complicated views and responses to topics such as racial discrimination, poverty, lgbtq+ issues, COVID, and more. Resilient is no answer to such dilemmas, but hopefully, a meditation on religious folks living their lives with a sense of hopefulness; and seeking newness amidst ancient traditions.

See an exhibition featuring selections from Resilient in the City Gallery this month, or check out the selected pieces on our online gallery.