Every Cross on Cross Mountain by Michael Alberry
Every Cross On Cross Mountain’ by Michael Alberry documents crucifixes left as ritual acts of devotion at the pilgrimage site of Cross Mountain in Medugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Made from materials and objects the pilgrims bring to or find in the mountain's landscape, each cross is its own unique sculpture.
“I set myself the impossible task to seek out and photograph every single cross on Cross Mountain. I started wandering the mountainside, strewn with handmade crucifixes big and small; improvised from planks, twisted wire, twigs and hair bands. Before long I was finding them all around me, in blades of grass; the cracks in the rocks. The definition between which crosses were hand made and which occurred through serendipity began to seem irrelevant. I started hunting for the symbol in all I saw around me.”
A kind of pilgrimage of its own, the project playfully explores the way that we ascribe meaning to the world around us; that the simple arrangement of two sticks can refer to sacrifice, and even conjure feelings of love and oneness with the divine. The work sits as one part of a much larger photographic endeavour; spirituality, ritual, and the human search for meaning are themes that show up repeatedly throughout Alberry’s work.
“I set myself the impossible task to seek out and photograph every single cross on Cross Mountain. I started wandering the mountainside, strewn with handmade crucifixes big and small; improvised from planks, twisted wire, twigs and hair bands. Before long I was finding them all around me, in blades of grass; the cracks in the rocks. The definition between which crosses were hand made and which occurred through serendipity began to seem irrelevant. I started hunting for the symbol in all I saw around me.”
A kind of pilgrimage of its own, the project playfully explores the way that we ascribe meaning to the world around us; that the simple arrangement of two sticks can refer to sacrifice, and even conjure feelings of love and oneness with the divine. The work sits as one part of a much larger photographic endeavour; spirituality, ritual, and the human search for meaning are themes that show up repeatedly throughout Alberry’s work.
