On the Road - The Catholic Faith in China

Beginning in 1989, world-renowned photographer Lu Nan worked for fifteen years to complete his trilogy: Part One: The Forgotten People—The Living Conditions of China's Psychiatric Patients; Part Two: On the Road—The Catholic Faith in China; and Part Three: Four Seasons—Everyday Life of Tibetan Peasants In this opus magnum of epic photography works, Nan affirms a richly human way of seeing.

Each photograph in the trilogy stands alone, but is inextricably linked to the total. Each is a crystalline node that amplifies and extends the other; each unique instant is an empirical part of all other moments at the same time. The trilogy examines the human condition from three perspectives. Substance particles are caught up in a web of light and shade, implying a condition of moral elevation and ultimately directing the viewer's gaze towards a hidden inner spiritual realm in all of us.

Lu Nan photographed On the Road: The Catholic Faith in China, Part Two of the trilogy, in 10 Chinese provinces and cities between 1992 and 1996. During this time, Nan visited approximately 100 churches, but his focus was on how love and the Catholic faith are applied in the ordinary lives of believers in the face of severe challenges from the Communist regime. He demonstrates that these believers' daily lives are permeated with an inner unity with God, and that the true Church lies deep within their hearts. Their time on Earth is only a tempering trajectory.Through enduring the trials of life they are able to find true strength in divine grace; they can discover and revel in their own inner light as children of the true God.