A GRAFFITI-STYLE installation in Canterbury Cathedral has drawn strong public criticism before it has officially opened. The Dean, the Very Revd David Monteith, has acknowledged that folks will either love or hate it, but that this was a part of its “unfiltered” message.
The temporary installation, Hear Us, which opens on Friday, is a collaboration between the poet Alex Vellis, and the curator, Jacquiline Creswell. It is formed of huge graffiti-style graphics stuck (fairly than sprayed on) to partitions and pillars, of difficult questions directed at God, comparable to, “Are you there?” “Why did you create hate when love is by much more powerful?” “Does all the things have a soul?” “Does our struggle mean anything?”
The questions got here out of workshops with marginalised communities. “Language is the individuals who speak it, and graffiti is the language of the unheard,” Mr Vellis said. “By temporarily putting graffiti on the within Canterbury Cathedral, we join a chorus of the forgotten, the lost, and the wondrous.”
Criticism got here swiftly from the US Vice-President, J. D. Vance, who posted on X: “It’s weird to me that these people don’t see the irony of honouring ‘marginalised communities’ by making a fantastic historical constructing really ugly.” Elon Musk weighed in with the comment “Shameful”.
Early reactions from visitors to the cathedral reportedly include one who described the installation as “sacrilegious”, and one other who suggested it made the constructing “appear to be an underground automotive park in Peckham”.
Canterbury CathedralCanterbury Cathedral
The Telegraph quoted the Rector of St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield, in London, the Revd Marcus Walker, who chairs Save the Parish: “The leadership of Canterbury Cathedral may now not have a way of the sacred, but tens of millions do and so they have an obligation to maintain this a spot of prayer and worship for the remainder of us, not turn it into a non-public plaything of the elites.”
The cathedral leadership lacked “pious awe and respect for the sacred”, the GB News presenter Emma Trimble suggested. An announcement from the cathedral acknowledged the adversarial comments, but said: “Others were quick to talk of their admiration for the installation, its artistry, and emotional punch.”
The Dean said: “There is a rawness which is magnified by the graffiti style, which is disruptive. There can be an authenticity in what is alleged since it is unfiltered and never tidied up or sanitised.
“This exhibition intentionally builds bridges between cultures, styles, and genres, and, specifically, allows us to receive the gift of younger people, who’ve much to say, and from whom we’d like to listen to much.”
Writing within the i Paper on Monday, he rebutted accusations of “vandalism”. “We could easily have rendered the inquiries to God as medieval style calligraphy, or in Times New Roman, neatly held on canvas inside the cathedral, but they might likely have gone unnoticed and unremarked upon, with few if any selecting to have interaction with the questions of religion and meaning at their heart.
“Rather than be distracted by the aesthetics of the graffiti lettering, I hope that folks will need to think deeply concerning the questions posed inside the artworks, and experience a way of meaningful encounter that we would like all who come to the cathedral to have.”
Jacquiline Creswell, who was arts curator at Salisbury Cathedral for 12 years, says of her work: “Churches have employed the visual arts for hundreds of years, to have fun their faith and communicate its truth and sweetness. This can be a medium for discussing and exploring that faith by providing a catalyst for including others into the discussions.”
In an interview in 2022, she said: “By reaching out to the divine with personal inquiries, individuals may find comfort, clarity, and direction amidst life’s uncertainties.”
The installation will remain in Canterbury Cathedral until 18 January.
