Michael Kenna

At age ten, Michael Kenna developed his first roll of black and white film in a makeshift darkroom at St. Joseph’s College, the seminary he attended with the idea of becoming a Catholic priest. Kenna abandoned his religious calling after leaving the seminary, but his experience there has continued to inform his work for decades. These gorgeous, meditative photographs were taken when Kenna returned to visit the now-shuttered school in the early 2000s. All of the qualities that make Kenna’s work so appealing and evocative are here?richly nuanced tones, studies in contrast, his ability to transform the ordinary into something extraordinary. But Kenna is also revisiting a way of life that may be disappearing?not only the, at times, ruthless discipline of the British boarding school but also the somber beauty of religious practice. In page after page of richly toned images, Kenna’s camera captures the architecture of the school’s built environment as well as its spiritual architecture. A critical essay by Vince Miles focuses on the 110-year history of St. Joseph’s College, contextualizing Kenna’s work there. At once captivating and haunting, this series is truly one of the photographer’s most powerful and revealing projects to date.