In my last post, I’d mentioned about continuing the personal project on faith and the pursuit of ritual - it’s interested me for a long time, in photography, how people across a wide variety of cultures, religions, places etc. all share this common desire for rituals.
The most recent instalment of this project came this weekend, with the Ukrainian ritual called ‘blessing of the baskets’, a high point in the religious year and a hallmark of Easter on the Orthodox calendar for Ukrainians.
It was a return for me, as I’d photographed this ritual previously, and the venue - the beautiful and historic St. Vladimir’s and Olga’s Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral - was one of the very first I’d photographed in when starting this project years ago.
The baskets contain food, especially bread which is relevant given Ukraine’s abundant wheat fields, and candles to spread light and receive blessings including sprinkling of holy water.
It was a fitting event to signify rebirth of this project, and I hope to continue it in the months ahead, as well as give clarity to its purpose going forward and exhibiting it in some form, also.
If you have ideas for various rituals to depict in photographs, whether it be small and ordinary and everyday, or large and grand occurring on special occasions - I’d love to include them. I’d also love to include a lot of diversity in this project, showing humanity’s shared urge to express itself through ritual.
Please contact me if you have suggestions - my website has a Contact section, I can be reached at email via talk@colincorneau.com or via Instagram
