1996
Signed, titled, dated, and numbered (10/10) in black ink, verso
Also signed and inscribed on old label, verso
Cyanotype
10 x 8 inches
Sold.
“In the hospital my prayer life grounded me in a time when I was losing everything, even possibly my life. It gave me structure to say my morning prayer, my midday prayer, my evening prayer, my Compline before sleep. It kept me safely in a space outside my head when I felt I might go crazy. Being in the AIDS unit in St. Vincent’s Hospital for months early on in the epidemic was almost like being in a war zone: endless moaning and crying from horrible pain, men dying in the bed next to mine. I kept my prayer book close at hand, using it as a shield. Slowly, new meanings in the texts were revealed to me as I read them over and over, and I’m absolutely certain that reading the Psalms kept me alive. As I began to lose my sight, I was unable to continue reading the dimming print, but just holding the prayer book on my chest or having it in bed gave me solace.”
—John Dugdale, Life’s Evening Hour (New York City: August Press Ltd., 2000), no. 15, np.