It is Sunday in Zanesville, Ohio, and I am with a community of Mennonites who have welcomed me politely, though cautiously. Do I want to become one of them, they ask? I sit among them in church. They quietly inform me that this time is only between them and God. No pictures allowed. Later, I am invited for a Sunday meal. A gathering of generations, but again, no pictures allowed.
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptists, often mistaken for the Amish. They practice non-violence, believe in strong community and simplicity of life. Ohio is home to one of the largest Mennonite populations in the country. My time was spent in the southeastern towns of Zanesville, Logan and Carbon Hill. I was especially drawn to the young people, in how religion permeated all aspects of their lives.
Born on an army base in Virginia, Amy Thompson Avishai was raised in Morocco, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Belgium. She returned to the U.S. for college and later began freelancing out of The New York Times' D.C. bureau.
Amyâ??s awards include a Fulbright Grant (Morocco), SE Asia Studies Grant (Cambodia), The Paul Schutzer Memorial Award for Advanced Documentary Work,
PhotoLucidaâ??s Critical Mass â?? Top 50 Photographers.
Her work has --or is scheduled to-- appear at the Photographic Center Northwest (Seattle, Washington), Newspace Center for Photography (Portland, Oregon), RaKyo Photo Center (San Francisco, California), The Griffin Museum of Photography and Panopticon Gallery (Boston), and PhotoStop Gallery (Vermont).
Her work has also been featured by Verve: The New Breed of Documentary Photographers and National Geographic magazine.
Amy teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston.
