Sojourn 3 Sudan 2004

James Nicholls's photograph of a threshold in Sudan accentuates the deep grain of long-weathered wood. The lined hand resting gently on the old timber mirrors the lined wood and holds a rosary. Not only visually but also through symbolism this photograph represents a cross—a point of intersection between the darkness inside and the brightness outside, between matter and spirit, between human and divine, and between time and eternity. Nicholls speculates that the man whose hand is pictured may be dead, for "there is terrible fighting in his area where the Dinka live in the upper Nile region." (nichollsphotography.com)

—Lois Huey-Heck