Revelations: Photographs of Cleveland's African American Churches

Photographer and teacher Mike Levy has spent most of his career in northeastern Ohio. Revelations grew out of an assignment from the Cleveland Plain Dealer to photograph a small, storefront church called Manna House. Levy was immediately struck by the powerful emotion shared by the congregants and the strong sense of community.
Revelations captures the spirit of the African American worship experience through arresting images of congregants' facial expressions and body language, their colorful uniforms and dress, and the solemnity of their worship. The images of baptisms, weddings, funerals, Sunday services, and special celebrations are at once serene and exalting, pensive and inspirational. Revelations honors not only the spiritual dimension of the African American church but the pride and dignity that prevails within the church-going family.

Michael Stephen Levy was a photographer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer for 16 years. Named Ohio’s Photographer of the Year by the Ohio News Photographers Association on five different occasions, most recently in 2005, Levy left the newspaper and started Mike Levy Photography, LLC, where he is currently working. He is the author of Cleveland’s Urban Landscape: The Sacred and the Transient (Kent State University Press, 2003).