Photographer drove the roads for 'signs' of faith

By Gary Freeman, August 03, 2007 [Episcopal News Service] For 25 years Sam Fentress recorded on film what many people only snickered at, recoiled from, or just ignored. Fentress, first with his Nikon FTn and then with his digital Canon 1Ds Mark II, road shotgun in his car aiming at placards of roadside Christian proselytizing.

His purpose as he says in his postscript was to "pay homage to the people who placed their messages in the American landscape."

Fentress realizes, too, that this is an indigenous U.S. expression. It's our wide-open fields that invite decoration or our towering water reservoirs that are seen for miles.

His book, Bible Road: Signs of Faith in the American Landscape, (David and Charles Publishers, 159 pp. $29.99) records more than 150 examples from Fentress's peregrinations. Most aren't very slick or professional, yet some look particularly snappy or clever: a Washington, D.C. stop sign under which reads "Hell Has No Exit," transported to the dead-end of a fenced yard; or the huge lighted, professional billboard in Kansas paid for by A.L.R. who had been granted a miracle by St. Jude.

Fentress has shown that art is where you find it, and you can find it even if you're not looking for it.

-- Gary Freeman is a journalist and reviewer who lives in Danvers, Massachusetts.

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