Mario Testino: Disciples

'Disciples' is a project by Mario Testino consisting of thirteen photographs taken, while on private visits to church related events, in various cities including Rome, Naples, Seville, and Ayecucho in Peru.

For Testino, the Church is an absolute with relevance on a global scale. However, this exhibition is a deeply personal spiritual journey. Over the last eight years, Testino has visited the Church as an outsider, using his photography as a form of catharsis, to reclaim the rituals and the meaning of the Church for himself.

These thirteen images have been edited down from a vast archive of images taken on the subject, together they provide a cohesive body of meaning and memory. Three images are displayed as glowboxes; the vestments of two bishops radiate with the weight of history, their faces as a carrier of identity are cropped.

Mario Testino was born into the deeply Catholic society of Lima, Peru. He now lives in London.