Spiritual Life & Advent Art

The following reflection on the Advent Art Installation appeared in the Ilford Recorder this week as my contribution to the Spiritual Life column:

An Art Installation created by local churches for display in six of the borough’s churches throughout Advent was exhibited for the first time over the weekend at St John’s Seven Kings.

The installation features an abstract design painted on three panels of mirrored perspex and explores ideas of darkness and light. The sombre colours and rectangular voids of this abstract artwork may recall works by Mark Rothko which hang in Tate Modern. Rothko’s later paintings have often been understood as depictions of the absence of God and the darkness of the world; an impression reinforced by Rothko’s suicide on the day that the Tate received those paintings.

Similarly, St Paul wrote that our experience in life is that of seeing in a mirror dimly; we do not see clearly and our understanding of life is clouded, he seemed to say. That may also be our experience in this installation, where the abstract colour has been applied to mirrored perspex, clouding our ability to see clearly in the mirrored panels of the installation. Yet the poet, Martin Wroe, has written that God can be seen as “the abstract art of paint and poem when our propaganda makes everything clear.”

As the viewer looks into the darkness of the abstract design, it is still possible to see reflected candles, lit within the space where the artwork stands, and picked out on the panels, forming a star, lines of clear reflection. The light beaming from the star on the right panel is linked by a line to the repeated word ‘Peace’ on the left.

What do we see as we look into the blurred and clear mirrored spaces of this installation? Essentially we see ourselves, both blurred and distinct. Are we defined by the darkness or are we one of the many points of light reflected in the darkness of this design? Is the reflection of our light blurred or distinct as we shine in the world? In what ways could we become light bringers and peace makers? After all, as a Chinese proverb says, ‘It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.’

The proposed dates for the Advent Art Installation as it tours Redbridge Churches during Advent are:

St Luke’s, Baxter Rd, Ilford - Dec 1-4
St Alban’s, Albert Rd, Ilford - Dec 5-8
St John’s, St John’s Rd, Ilford - Dec 9-12
St Andrew’s, The Drive, Ilford - Dec 13-16
St Margaret’s, Perth Rd, Ilford - Dec 17-20
The Vine URC, Riches Rd, Ilford - Dec 21-24

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Sixpence None The Richer - Melody of You.