"Sanctuary refers to a place of worship and a state of mind―but it also refers to the most sacred part of a Christian church, the site where the altar is housed. Thomas Roma's photographs locate these most sacred parts of the community within the larger context of Brooklyn's landscape, charting the triumphant efforts of generations to leave their mark, to make their way through the world of mammon and man, seeking solace within the city but far beyond it. They also reveal a persistent, irresistible determination to express spirituality within the often harsh landscape of the city, giving glory to God's resplendent being even through the often makeshift architecture of the storefront and the movie theater."―Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
In Sanctuary, acclaimed photographer Thomas Roma offers a compelling sequence of 52 black-and-white images that document the varieties of religious experience in Brooklyn as seen in the borough's sacred architecture. Juxtaposing pictures of grand Gothic and Romanesque churches photographed at a distance from backyards and alleys with more intimate views of smaller places of worship housed in converted storefronts and dilapidated brownstones, Roma subtly calls attention to issues of history and class, revealing how successive waves of immigrants have shaped Brooklyn's urbanscape and how the African-American and Hispanic communities living there now have worked to make these neighborhoods, culturally and spiritually, their own.
"From shabby storefronts to soaring cathedrals, from Iglesia Pentecostal Apocalipsis to St. Joseph's Roman Catholic, this photo book documents the churches of Brooklyn. In gentle black-and-white, against the trash and light of the city, Roma's pictures capture all the ways immigrants and citizens, rich and poor, have made homes for God in the harsh urban landscape."―Molly Marsh, Sojourners Magazine

Sanctuary (Creating the North American Landscape)

Arts & Photography

Thomas Roma

Photography & Video

Johns Hopkins University Press

In 1990, Thomas Roma began photographing the exterior of houses of worship in his native Brooklyn, which features more churches per square mile than any other place in the United States. One morning, the pastor of an African-American Christian church housed in a former Jewish temple invited Roma to join the congregation with his camera, explaining that God's work was not in the buildings, but in what went on inside. Roma eventually photographed more than 150 services in 52 African-American churches, richly fulfilling his desire "to make religious pictures for modern times." Only 100 copies of Come Sunday remain available, and each of these has been signed by the photographer himself.

Come Sunday: Photographs by Thomas Roma

Henry Louis Gates

Individual Artists

The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Come Sunday

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Distributed by Abrams

Camping out in the Brooklyn Criminal Court building from December 1997 to early 1999, Roma, photographer and director of photography for Columbia University, talked to victims, defendants, trial witnesses and their families, and sometimes took their portraits then and there. The result is this collection of 83 duotones that give human faces to the application of the law.

Enduring Justice: Photographs by Thomas Roma

powerHouse Books

Thomas Roma: Higher Ground

D.A.P./International Center for Photography

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thomas Roma. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Thomas Roma