I’ve just received a copy of S. Billie Mandle’s monograph, ​‘Reconciliation.’ I’ve loved the work for a decade, and it’s finally here in book form. It was worth the wait. The book is an understated object, bound in ochre the color of old upholstery. (Or has it become gold?) The photographs are neatly divided into five sections. The plates are bookended by two potent texts, in large red print, only slightly darker than the red paper underneath the words. The book’s simplicity augments the profound nature of its contents.

Mandle has chosen to include only two pieces of writing, opening with ​‘Confession,’ from ​‘The Long Loneliness,’ by Dorothy Day, and closing with ​‘Reconciliation,’ by the poet Kirstin Valdez Quade. I bring these voices into the work with me, to converse with those murmurs from the past embedded in the walls of the confessionals.

Time is masterfully compressed into Mandle’s work, with long exposures, long-suffering spaces, and compositional surprises. Working slowly and mindfully in Catholic churches across the United States, she uses photography to reveal several layers, both substantive and psychological, of that which is normally invisible. Deep shadows, screens, pockmarked walls, and rays of light speak of decades of sin and absolution, decay, illumination, and the complex work of the inner life.

My copy of the book found its home on the shelf of my all time favorite projects. If you have interest in the architecture of such specific usage, in the astonishing revelation of very long exposure into shadows, or if you need to grapple with the concept of forgiveness… I recommend you treat yourself to this significant book.

– Lisa

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