Portals

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Portals, Passages, and Thresholds

In 2006, Tom and Lisa Dowling spent Fall and Early Winter in Rome, Italy.

They were there to photograph and study
the Baroque churches for Tom’s sabbatical project.
Traipsing across the city, almost always on foot,
they got to know Rome very well.

Between churches, they would wander the streets and alleys,
always photographing what they encountered.
The plethora of street art and graffiti was so assaulting
that they felt compelled to engage with it.
The result is their book, Graffiti Culture Roma.

Similarly, they encountered interesting doorways,
portals, and passages throughout the city.
To document a subject like this may seem cliché’ on the surface.
The metaphor of passages has been overworked, we admit.

But, this is Rome, The Eternal City, the center
of western culture for centuries.
Here in Rome the past and present interfuse.
The layers of history are ever present.

These photographs are the essence of Rome:
the world’s first metropolis is filled with layers
and incarnations — from Antiquity through the Renaissance,
and Baroque to the Modern.

These images represent the potential experience
that awaits one beyond the door, or down the passageway.
One path might be an interesting voyage,
or it might be a dead end, filled with the intriguing possibility of a detour.
These images are metaphors for the promise of adventure,
endless options for the new and unusual.

by Tom & Lisa Dowling: Portals, Passages, and Thresholds
Available at: www.blurb.com