Signal - riel Sturchio

In Signal, Sturchio documents practitioners of spiritual, metaphysical, or personal rituals within the LGBTQIA+ community. Sturchio describes these practices as forms of both grieving and connection in an unjust and unsafe society. Sturchio’s spells enact their own form of these practices. The photographs in Signal document a community of practitioners and their rituals, totems, and holy spaces. None of the images point to the cultures of mainstream, organized religion. Rather, they feel more personal, abstractly spiritual, and at times animistic. Some photographs capture familiar spiritual motifs—there are crystals, tarot cards, a dream catcher, and a palm reading—but Sturchio resists cliché or over explanation, providing us with glimpses of spiritual self-care that remain personal and elusive.