Last night, Sarah Sutcliff and I attended the Big Tent Revival: Photography Pop Up by Buffalo Obscura at Transfiguration Church in Sycamore Street. We were both there to shoot some photos and to enjoy the event. What is Buffalo Obscura? It is a photography collective organized by Chris Hawley, Molly Jarboe and Christina Laing. They host an ongoing series of photography pop up shows in obscure locations all around Buffalo.
Transfiguration Church was closed by the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo in the 1990s. Much of the church campus still in use by other organizations, but the church itself has sat vacant for over twenty years and not owned by the diocese. The church building is now owned by Daniel Britt who has taken on the task of trying to breathe new life into it. As what happens with a lot of buildings on the east side, they fall off the radar screen of the general public. Having an event like the photo pop up raised a lot of awareness about Transfiguration, and to a higher level, the plight of buildings across the east side.
I wrote this on Facebook last night.
I know I can’t say with certainty, but it’s my guess that last night was the largest amount of people who have visited Transfiguration Church on a single day since it closed in the 1990s, And that’s the point of what Buffalo Obscura does. Tonight you got sense of what was and what could be for this neighborhood sacred site.
Click on photos below for a full view—>
