Q&A: Shannon Taggart, New York

Shannon Taggart is a freelance photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BFA in Applied Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including Blind Spot, TIME and Newsweek. She has shown at Photoworks in Brighton, England, The Photographic Resource Center in Boston, Redux Pictures in New York and the Stephen Cohen Gallery in Los Angeles. Her work has been recognized by the Inge Morath Foundation, American Photography and the Alexia Foundation for World Peace, among others.

There seems to be a lot more women than men in your photographs. Is this true of the spiritualist community in general or have you simply chosen to focus more on women in your photographs?
‘In my latest series of portraits, the focus on women was very intentional. I chose to shoot only women for a period of time. Volume two and three of the series will focus on men, couples and small groupings of people. Otherwise in my work, any focus on women in particular was unintentional. It just so happened a majority of the spiritualists and mediums I met and photographed were women, but there could be something to that I suppose’.

How did you come up with the title “Edwina” for your series on snake handlers?
‘Edwina is short for Jimmy and Pam Morrow’s Edwina Church of God in Jesus Name, located in Newport, TN’.

You’ve been photographing the spiritualist community for a while now, along with snake handlers and exorcisms. What keeps you coming back to this subject matter?
‘I am completely fascinated by how the individual experiences the spiritual uniquely. And that such experiences can be so profoundly different, deeply interior, and utterly mysterious. I seek to make visible — via the camera — a metaphor for what is happening within the psychological space surrounding the person, the ritual or the actuality of the event. Also, there is just something totally hypnotic about witnessing the attempt to bring something abstract, like belief or faith, into the physical’.

What is the strangest thing that has happened to you while photographing paranormal activities?
‘Honestly, there are many strange things that happened. Most sound silly when I attempt to describe them in words. The main reason I began the spiritualism project was because of a dramatic message my cousin received from my grandfather via a medium. Whatever their explanation, the experiences I had while making the photographs are all special to me’.

You have photographed spiritualists in both the U.S. and England. Were there any major differences in attitude between the subjects in these respective countries?
‘I spent very little time in England comparatively so it’s hard to be certain. The main thing that stuck out was that the British style was generally more formal and theatrical. Also, I think people are willing to pay more money to mediums for readings in the United States’.

Do you shoot film or digital?
‘My latest portrait series is the first project I have shot digitally. All of my other images are scanned 645 or 35mm color negative. I am truly excited by my new digital camera. It has allowed me to explore and experiment with motion and chance elements in amazing ways’.