Lucia Ganieva: Tiltenberg (English, Dutch, Hardcover, Photographic, F)

Who in todays modern western society would choose to become a priest? That is the question that the non-believer Lucia Ganieva asked herself. She was particularly curious to know why. She wanted to know what it means for a trainee priest to live in two totally different worlds: that of the Catholic church and that of Dutch civilian society. The portraits reveal how the students see themselves as they prepare for priesthood. In combination with the photographs of the interiors, the conflicting forces at play between the church and the civilian world become clearly visible. The minor details of the interior tell much bigger stories. The Tiltenberg at Vogelenzang is the Great Seminary of the diocese Haarlem (Netherlands) where students are trained for priesthood. Lucia Ganieva was inspired by the serene atmosphere in the seminary, and this is reflected in her images. The students portrayed allowed her to enter their world and talk about what literally possessed them to choose this life. Ganieva has made a wonderful and respectful portrait of a world that is not her own...Lucia Ganieva was born in Russia, and has been living in the Netherlands since 1993.