Additional information
by Jennifer Putnam (Author), Michael Philip Manheim (Author)
In this series of photographs, Michael Philip Manheim furthers his journey into the human heart and spirit. For years, he has invited brave souls to be photographed as they set into movement a release of their inner beings. His multi-exposure images reveal sophisticated portraits of a shadow self, interpreting the complexity of each Individual.Now this approach has been applied to Where My Spirit Guides Us. The project celebrates the practice of ancient hula. Manheim has been photographing as Kumu Hula Ehulani Stephany guides her hula halau (hula school) into channeling the spirits of their ancestors. The resulting photographs reveal stunning transformations. Manheim says, "I have never before worked with a subject who equalled Kumu's metamorphosis powers. For the viewer, it is hard at times to believe that it is truly the same woman from picture to picture."Beyond sharing this powerful experience with a wider audience, the project aims to spotlight Kumu and her mission. She avidly works to educate, preserve and promote the ancient art of hula, which she sees as central to the preservation of traditional Hawaiian civilization. Before a written language, Hawaiian history was passed through the generations by chanting and dance. Denigrated by colonizing invasions, western-imported disease and modern-day commercialization, these rituals and ritual spaces are in dire need of this champion.Her work is not aimed at some greater glory. It is a labor of love. As Kumu writes of their efforts to restore ancient hula as well as Hawaiian heiau (temples): "We're not looking to receive any financial payment for this work, for it comes from deep within the heart and soul of me and all my haumana (students)."
Author Biography
After a bachelor's degree in business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1962, and continuing in his family's retail business for seven more years, Michael Philip Manheim needed to follow his passion. An avid amateur photographer in his teens, he created a new career as a freelance professional photographer.. His early work is journalistic in nature, freelancing for a wide variety of clients. His reflexive approach to photography evolved into the lyrical and evocative fine art of his later work. An artist-in-residence at four different venues, Manheim became widely recognized for his experimental and innovative multiple exposure photographs as well as for his photojournalism. Both approaches express emotion released into movement. Mr. Manheim was interviewed with the American Society of Media Photographers after winning a Best of 2017 award from the association. He said, "Photography became an outlet not only for creative expression, but for dealing with feelings in what now seems like the straitlaced decade of my teen years (the 1950s). We didn't directly express ourselves in my family, to be sure; we were expected to know what the other person was thinking. As a result, my photography tuned in to body language, to a visual reference to emotion. The photojournalistic approach to my people pictures sharpened my reflexes, honing an ability to react while simultaneously forming a compositional frame. This acquired skill later went into developing a multiple exposure technique for my fine art photography exploration that fit well with galleries and museums, led to the residencies, and went online. His photographs are held in private as well as public collections, including the Library of Congress, the International Photography Hall of Fame, the Danforth Museum of Art, and more. His photography has been displayed in over 30 group and 20 solo exhibitions throughout the United States, Germany, Greece and Italy. His work has been published in hundreds of magazines as well as in books, newspapers and online. Mr. Manheim is currently editing his archives to create monographs of his themes, such as this one and including nostalgic small books under the umbrella of "how once we looked." Mr. Manheim has been a member of the American Society of Media Photographers since 1969, and has been included in many editions of Who's Who.
