- Photograph by
- Higgins, Chester, American, born 1946
- Subject of
- The Church Selassie, Haile I, Jamaican American, founded 1987
- Emperor Selassie, Haile, Ethiopian, 1892 - 1975
- Unidentified Man or Men
- Unidentified Woman or Women
- Date
- 2007; printed 2021
- Medium
- pigment on photographic paper
- Dimensions
- H x W (image): 6 × 9 in. (15.3 × 22.9 cm)
- H x W (sheet): 6 15/16 × 10 in. (17.7 × 25.4 cm)
- Description
- A pigment print photograph depicting the Rastafarian community at the Brooklyn site of The Church Haile Selassie I, in the middle of a service. Men and women stand in wooden pews facing the red curtained front of the church where there is a candlelit altar and yellow-cloth podium. In the aisle of the small church, a procession of clergymen dressed in gold robes with trim in the Ethiopian colors of red, yellow, and green walks carrying various objects representative of Haile Selassie. The front priest holds open a striped book with a drawing of Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie I. The clergy behind him carries a long pole with a large silver Star of David as its head, also wrapped in the Ethiopian colors. Two final clergymen follow the first two. On the left of the photograph, partially visible, is a framed color painting of Haile Salassie I, dressed in formal military hat and jacket. The photograph is set in matte white backing and on the reverse is Chester Higgins’s Eye of Horus trademark stamp and signature.
- Place captured
- Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Sacred and Ceremonial Objects
- Photographs and Still Images
- Type
- pigment prints
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Object number
- 2022.18.4
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Chester Higgins, All Rights Reserved
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




