Vernacular Churches in Houston and Los Angeles This collection of images presents a look at humble buildings devoted to prayer in the inner-city neighborhoods of Houston and Los Angeles. These small churches -- often times common houses transformed into a church simply by adding a cross or steeple -- exist "at the intersection of popular culture and marginalized religious and societal experience." Taken by Claudette Chambrun Goux, a graduate art history student at University of California, Riverside, the images from L.A. feature churches with barred windows and ornate edifices, while those in Houston evoke both rural and urban ideas. Born out of the country's ubiquitous strip malls and poorest circumstances, these idiomatic places of worship underscore the importance of religious expression in America. (in Religion & Spirituality)
