In preparation for my upcoming exhibition, I’ve been going through my negatives and slides. I’ve been a photographer for over 40 years and only during the the last eight years have I worked exclusively in a digital format. Prior to then I created tens of thousands of images: rough estimate 75,000. I’ve wanted to digitize them but only now got started, prompted by the coming display.
The image above was taken in 2004. Becky and I were driving along a back road in the Languedoc when we passed by a small family crypt. I saw the sheaf of wheat hanging from the locked gate and had to stop to investigate.
Since ancient times, a bundle of wheat has been used as a symbol of fertility and has graced both weddings and harvest festivals. In some cases, the wheat would be formed into figures or geometric forms but it is the simple sheave that captures the spirit of harvest best.
The juxtaposition of the weathered harvest symbol attached to the gate to a crypt was haunting. The reality is that the gate was the only place a farmer could have placed the wheat, the surrounding fields were empty of any other structure or tree.
However, what I saw was a faded reminder of past harvests: crops of grain and men gathered in. Just as the richness of the wheat is reaped, so to are men and women, in their fullness, called back to their source.