Jonathan Durham: Them That Believe

NEW
YORK, July 5, 2011—On July 5, 2011, Jonathan Durham will begin work on his
project, Them That Believe, as part of Recess’s signature program, Session. Session invites artists to use
its public space as studio, exhibition venue and grounds for
experimentation.  Durham’s project
will take place at Recess’s new outpost in Red Hook, Brooklyn, continuing
Recess’s ongoing collaboration with Charlotte Kidd and Dustin Yellin from Kidd
Yellin Studios
 
Over
the course of two months, Durham will generate a series of photos, videos and
sculptures that explore a literal translation of belief into radical action.
 
Three
religious “edgeworkers”, people or groups operating on the fringes of their
belief system, will inform and guide the work done over the course of the
project.  Durham will navigate the
physical manifestations of the belief systems of Fanny Crosby, a prolific
songwriter who penned over 8,000 
hymns despite being blind since infancy.; Jim D. Adkisson, an out of
work truck driver and former soldier who gunned down a group of his own church
members in 2008; and the serpent handlers of Southern Appalachia who repeatedly
put themselves in harm’s way with full faith in God’s power to protect them
from poisonous snakes.
 
Visitors to Them That Believe are invited to participate in a series of actions,
that engage with the iconography and rituals common to these edgeworkers
including dancing alongside projected images of snake handlers, writing and
passing notes found in the back of church pews, composing songs and writing out
secrets and burning them.  This
exchange between the artist and visitors will take the form of “Community
Potlach,” a kind of semi-destructive import/export zone that allows people to
take away or deposit objects and new meaning as desired.