MAUREEN BEITLER   FAITH IN HARLEM About Faith in Harlem "I often walk the streets of Harlem on Sunday mornings visiting the "holy ghost churches" and photographing where I can. I am interested in Faith and the impact religious belief can have in one's life, probably because it has been so elusive in my own. Many of the churches are set up in old storefronts and brownstones-some being virtual squatters in old buildings waiting to be sold-and have become places of worship simply because that is what people have made them. I am drawn to the Spirit, Healing and Love that seem to inhabit these spaces, whether transitory or permanent, and that provide a refuge from the struggles of living in difficult circumstances". Bio Maureen Beitler is a photographer living and working in NYC. Her work is frequently featured in the literary journal, The Sun Magazine. Images from her series Faith in Harlem were part of the 2005 "Moving Walls Exhibition" and are currently part of the traveling exhibition "Beggars and Choosers: Motherhood is not a Class Privilege in America" -- both sponsored by The George Soros Foundation. Before moving to NYC, she worked as a nurse in a Baltimore City trauma unit. "Taking care of people who were struggling for their lives-people from all walks of life-prepared me in a way not to shy away from the intensity and conflict inherent in everyday life. That is what I am looking for in my photographs: truth, beauty and the desire to experience life with all of it's glorious imperfections." Ms. Beitler studied at ICP, the New School and at Maine photographic Workshops, with noted photographers Antonin Kratochvil, Mary Ellen Mark, Eugene Richards. Exhibitions: Woodstock Center of Photography, Beyond Words (group exhibition) Spring 2002 Beggars and Choosers: Motherhood is Not a Class Privilege (traveling group exhibition) ongoing Moving Walls 9: Open Society Institute, NYC (group exhibition) 2004 (New York Foundation of the Arts artist fellowship in photography 2004)