These photographs offer moments of revelation—spiritual “awakenings" that deepen the soul—as experienced through touch, reflection, self-acceptance, gratitude, laughter, celebration, and empathy.
We are made whole when we are aware of the wisdom of our breath; when we are present in the moment; when we are receptive to the vibrant reality of another being; when we touch and are touched lovingly.
We are restored when our hearts break open—as when we are deeply moved by joy and sorrow; when we express gratitude for the good in our lives; when we forgive ourselves and others. It is the feeling of having been cleansed, like the earth after heavy rain.
The photographs were made in therapeutic, religious, and medical settings, and include key moments in the life cycle relating to birth, illness, loss, and friendship.
The series begins with clergy and laying-on of hands practitioners (photographs 1–13), transitions to the healthcare environment (14–24), then to everyday moments (25–37), followed by the disabled (38–44), and ends with the elderly (45–50).
We find a disfigured woman receiving a benediction; a doctor caressing a traumatized victim's forehead; a nurse communing with a newborn; a cardiac patient rejoicing after surgery.
We encounter an uninhibited anti-war demonstrator defying the establishment at the pool by the Washington Monument; a woman making peace with her bedridden brother; a psychotherapist providing unconditional acceptance to a client; a mother gazing into a baby’s tranquil face.
We observe a handicapped teen accepting his twisted body amid the “perfect” forms of museum art; a woman greeting the open sky with outstretched arms; a neighbor reassuring apanic-stricken Alzheimer's patient.
Why make these photographs? I am profoundly touched by how we attend to each other’s wounds, how we give to and care for one another, and I decided early in my career—in a world in need of affirmation—to mine images that illuminate and enlighten, that comfort and sustain, that bind us to one another. To affirm is to validate our humanity, to say yes to our existence. This validation is the very breath of the healing image. The healing image is autonomous in its grace and warmth, an object of contemplation, an icon that embodies the inner truth of things. In Thomas Merton's words, it is “the highest expression of praise and worship." It cannot help but become an offering, a testament to life and goodness.
With this collection we come to know a moment meant only for angels to witness—a moment that awaits each of us. We discover that our essential core is peaceful and whole, that it is not about how much knowledge we gain, but about how we love one another.
Here they are, reminding us to nourish the light within, to turn and return. In the reconciled stillness of the photographs, a voice cries out “you must help carry the world.”
Heal yourself and you can heal the world.
Abraham Menashe