Catholic Girl

Catholic Girl – My hope for every young photography student is that there comes a time when the need to work outweighs the desire to do well at school. That’s what happened to me when I started graduate school in 1984. I compare this moment to a first kiss: you only get one chance, and if you’re lucky, you don’t waste it.

After Garry Winogrand’s memorial service in March of that year, and an exceptional snowstorm in New York on that warm spring day, I took the RR subway to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to visit my high school teacher, artist Len Bellinger. As usual, I had my 8X10 camera and mounts in a backpack, with the tripod hanging over the side. As an avid student, I took the opportunity to photograph my alma mater, a Catholic high school for girls, largely Italian-American. I was immediately struck by a feeling of recognition and terror. I went back to take photos many times over the following months, knowing intuitively that there was something important for me to unpack. A few years earlier, within these walls, I had lived my teenage life, a period of intense joy and unfathomable sorrow. Without hesitation, that spring day, I jumped off the cliff. I was in love.

This book includes the Brooklyn work, as well as photographs taken at the time in two New Haven Catholic schools for girls. All the work was shot with an 8X10 camera and printed on platinum, a practice I still use. The influence of photographers whose work I devoured is obvious, especially August Sander and Diane Arbus. The seeds of my future projects are all in this book. With Catholic girls, I’ve developed a lifelong obsessive work habit that I might not wish on my loved ones. Looking back over forty years, I don’t think I really had a choice. I remain very grateful to everyone who has supported me over the decades, including the incredible girls who generously offered their time to be photographed in 1984.