Séance: Reviewed by Erika Larsen

Book Review Séance Photographs by Shannon Taggart Reviewed by Erika Larsen In 2001, while working as a photojournalist, Shannon Taggart began photographing where that message was received—Lily Dale, New York, home to the world's largest spiritualist community, proceeding to other communities in, for example, Arthur Findlay College in the UK.

Séance. Shannon Taggart.

Séance
Photographs by Shannon Taggart

Fulgur Press, United Kingdom, 2019. 304 pp., 162 color, 8 black and white illustrations, 11¾x9¾".

"I realized the accidental photo was more psychologically true to the event then the photograph I intended to take." With this declaration Shannon Taggart sets the tone for her haunting and evocative portal into the world of spiritualism, titled Séance.

This is Taggart’s first photographic monograph and spans her twenty-year exploration into the realm of Spiritualism, an American religion founded in 1848. I would go so far as to say that Séance could be regarded as a bible for modern-day spiritualism. It houses a rare, archival, visual collection on mediumship accompanied with essays by notable Spiritualist Dan Aykroyd, artist Tony Oursler and curator Andreas Fischer as well as Taggart’s own words, unfolding a rich history underpinned by the profound visual journey set forth through Taggart’s images.

Séance reveals Spiritualism’s influence on modern art, its importance in western esotericism, and its tumultuous relationship with the photographic arts. This book is a constant reminder of the influence photography has in our lives and our interpretations of experience. The camera wields power as a recording device, a communication tool, an evidence provider, and most powerfully, in my opinion, as a time machine.

Spiritualism classifies itself as science, philosophy and religion; Taggart’s images could be classified in all of these categories. Encased in this collection we see the camera dip into realms of documentation, investigation and research, time aberration, and physical deconstruction. With a mastery in this medium, Taggart forces us to see the things we want to believe, and then immediately reminds us why we doubt. Fear, confusion, intellect and knowledge all spin a web that crystalizes our gaze and separates us from our body, until Taggart turns on the lights and reminds us that we are home.

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Séance. Shannon Taggart.

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Séance. Shannon Taggart.

Séance. Shannon Taggart.

Erika Larsen is a multidisciplinary storyteller who believes that photography is one of the most important ways to explore our understanding of time. She is fascinated by the way we communicate with nature and often focuses on people that maintain strong relationships to the natural world. Her monograph Sami-Walking with Reindeer, a reflection of her time living in the Scandinavian Arctic, was published in 2013.