Stations of the Cross

Lent and Eastertide 2008 will see a significant number of innovative Stations of the Cross projects in UK Churches.

Some have been many years in planning and execution as with the Stations by Chris Gollon to be unveiled at St John’s Bethnal Green on Good Friday. The commissioning process for these works began eight years ago and developed as funders were drawn in over the period to enable completion of the series. Gollon’s dramatic and moving paintings are site specific, feature his own son as the model for Jesus, and have been used in previous Good Friday services at St John’s.

Similarly, Stations of the Cross by Iain McKillop were dedicated by the Bishop of Dunwich at St John’s Bury St Edmonds on 2nd February after a commissioning process that had included their temporary hanging in St John’s during Lent 2007, where they became a theme for the town’s ecumenical Lent course. After seeing how the Stations were developing, a local benefactor commissioned a Resurrection to complete the scheme. Like Gollon’s Stations, McKillop’s are representational and are strong on the suffering of Christ.

Ghislaine Howard walked the streets of Liverpool in the early mornings to sketch and photograph spaces vacated by rough sleepers. She has used these images to situate her painting of The Empty Tomb in the “reality of lived experience” and to bring to “this spiritual subject a simple human dimension.” This painting is the culminating piece of the series Stations of the cross: the captive figure which was made for Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral in 2000 and has been touring British cathedrals since, returning to Liverpool every two years. The Empty Tomb is being exhibited at the Anglican Cathedral from Lent onwards and is being joined by the full set of Howard’s Stations from February to March.

St Andrew’s Fulham Fields sponsored a Stations of the Cross competition for students at the Slade, part of the University of London. Nine artists entered the competition and the winning proposal was by Aishan Yu who has created paintings on ‘found objects’ that blurred the edges between representation and reality. All but one of Yu’s works is painted on natural found materials to reflect the idea that God creates all matter and is omnipresent. She has chosen to combine realistic figures with abstract backgrounds to convey the key message of each Station, while leaving a degree of ‘imagination space’ for viewers. The fifteenth and final Station, representing the resurrection of Jesus, takes the form of a projection of moving clouds on the ceiling of St Andrew’s, which interacts visually with a sculpture in the church depicting the ascent of Jesus to heaven.

Finally, Hertford stns will combine Stations painted by local artists with six Stations created through art workshops held in Lent organised by Hertford & District Churches Together. During Holy Week the complete set of Stations will be sited either in different places of worship throughout the town or in public, civic and outdoor locations enabling people to make a pilgrimage from station to station with accompanying meditations to aid their spiritual journey.

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The Harbour Lights - Sweet Hand of Mercy.