I’m Jaime Lowe, a photographer based in New York. But every week for the past month, I have been packing up my equipment and commuting to my hometown of Providence, Rhode Island to rehearse with the all-ladies choir I sing in. I’ve been singing in the Assembly of Light Women’s Choir, which was founded by Providence musician and composer Chrissy Wolpert on and off for the past year. We’ve sang on Providence experimental doom band The Body’s critically-acclaimed 2010 album All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood, and we’ve opened for ESG at AS220’s Foo Fest.
“The music is strangely structured and unstructured at the same time…This has been a total learning process for everyone involved. The songs that are coming out of me are little stories of tragedy and hope at the same time.” – Chrissy Wolpert
Chrissy Wolpert has won numerous grants and awards for her music and composition. She started the choir in 2008, when she invited a bunch of Providence ladies (artists, musicians, scientists, gardeners, teachers) to sing at her house. It’s Chrissy’s haunting and beautiful melodies, genuine patience, passion, and commitment coupled with the diversity and dedication of the twenty-three women in the choir that have inspired me to create a documentary photo story on the choir.
Choir practice at Devil’s Rainbow in Central Falls.
Tatyana Yanishevsky, sculptor and scientist, reviews her note with Chrissy.
When our friends The Body invited the Assembly of Light Women’s Choir on tour in the South this summer, I asked Chrissy if I could document the story as a member of the choir. And that’s when BUST Magazine asked me to create a tour diary on our nine-day tour with the Body.
Kristina Brown, the local designer who created the design and print for the choir robes and hoods, makes an adjustment to a robe.
Natalja Kent and Maralie Armstrong of Providence band Bloodhuff practice their notes.
Reba Mitchell, singer in Providence band Whore Paint reigns at practice.
The Body’s t-shirt screen.
So here we go- all fourteen of us (the rest are meeting up with us in New York City for an epic show at Le Poisson Rouge on June 25). We packed up one bag each, I have my Rubix cube. We’re taking three cars. We have our sleeping bags rolled up and our sleeveless choir robes with our matching hoods ready to go.
Our first stop is Philly. Wish us luck.
And come see us sing!
Friday June 17 Philly, PA @ Pi Lam w/ serpent throne, trophy wife
Saturday June 18, Pittsburgh, PA @ Braddock Carnegie Library Theater w/earth, o paon, onodrim
Sunday June 19 Baltimore, MD @ Talking Head Club @ Sonar
Monday June 20 Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor w/ braveyoung
Tuesday June 21 Jacksonville, FL @ Warehouse 8B w/civilization
Wed. June 22 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
Thursday June 23 Greensboro, North Carolina @ Legitimate Business w/braveyoung
Friday June 24 Washington DC @ St. Stephen’s Church w/braveyoung
Saturday June 25 New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
Sunday June 26th Providence, RI @ AS220
Bring your earplugs. The show with The Body will be intense.
xo
