‘The city is my monastery’ is an exhibition created by the artists and craftsperson’s group at St Martin-in-the-Fields for Lent that will be on show in the Foyer of the Crypt from 26 February - 10 April.
St Martin-in-the-Fields is home to several commissions and permanent installations by contemporary artists. We also have an exciting programme of temporary exhibitions, as well as a group of artists and craftspeople from the St Martin’s community who show artwork and organise art projects on a temporary basis. One of the initiatives from this group is a changing display of work by the group members or artists linked to the group. Each month a different artist shows examples of their work, so, if you are able, do return to see the changing display.
For Lent 2020 the group have created an exhibition to accompany the Lent Course at St Martin-in-the-Fields – ‘The Desert in the City.’ Using Revd Richard Carter’s new book ‘The City is my Monastery: A contemporary rule of life’ as its inspiration, this exhibition focuses on how we might deepen our lives of contemplation and action at the heart of the city. Seeing a need for monastic values in the centre of the city, Richard founded the Nazareth Community. Its members gather from everyday life to seek God in contemplation, to replenish stressed lives, to acknowledge their dependence on God's grace and to learn to live generously.
Charles de Foucault once famously remarked that if we need to go to the desert to find God, then everyone trying hard to survive in a bustling city would need to have a little strip of desert with them. We need he said ‘to create the desert in the heart of the city… contemplation in the streets that is our task.’ How can we become more attentive to the continuous presence of God and create the space to bring our lives before God? Through this exhibition the artists and craftspeople at St Martin’s are seeking to explore our own spiritual paths: the places of encounter, forgiveness, nurture, compassion, generosity and growing depth, and the challenging discovery of the Word made flesh in one another.
The exhibition explores themes of: cities, monasteries, prayer, contemplation, community, silence, sacraments, study, sharing, service, steadfastness (staying with), and sabbath.
Lois Bentley's ‘Our Childhood’s Pattern’, an assemblage of torn printed roundels in primary colour, with graphite drawing on layers of deserted paper, red velvet ribbon, began by playing with the seven S’s of invitation in Richard Carter’s book:
Letting the letters weave around each other, until
they settled into pattern and circle
from a mug of tea, into
three fresh ink prints,
layered on the detritus
and reward of this city life.
Rosalind Beeton's 'Landscape' is also accompanied by a poem:
Walk softly, walk gently into the new,
oh hallowed beginnings…
may a fresh spring flourish in your heart
and new buds flower in your being
with His healing presence to breathe you…
your compassion and love will warm the world
your sacred footsteps tread All Hallows holy ground…
walk softly and silently into His grace and peace…
Alice Bree's ‘The Golden Thread of Silence’ is similarly accompanied:
gold is precious,
silence is precious
we wait on God in silence and stillness,
listening in each moment as we pray.
she sang the Magnificat for me
on the day her child was due,
and i asked her to rejoice, and swing
the tilt and lean of womanhood ..
and with arms stretched wide
and loving as a crucifix,
she danced the canticle
and cried with me ..
i held her in my hands with her unborn son
in clay ..
and together,
we gave thanks
Sheila Walcott Chambers writes that 'in experiencing ‘the city as my monastery’ I sought to consider the lived experience of this woman (‘Louise in Our Midst’) who begged at the foot of the steps up into Waterloo Station. While at service in St Martin’s, I honoured that homeless young woman by placing her inside the iconic ovoid cross both literally and metaphorically. Then I drew her image as if she was suffused with importance.'
Asanka Lekamalage reminds us through ‘Paradise in the City’ that, 'even in London, there are parks and woodlands where you can walk in silence, yet hear the sound of birds singing.' 'It reminds me, he writes, 'of my childhood in Sri Lanka.' 'To put these memories in a painting is another way of finding sacred space in silence, and sharing it with others.'
Asanka Lekamalage reminds us through ‘Paradise in the City’ that, 'even in London, there are parks and woodlands where you can walk in silence, yet hear the sound of birds singing.' 'It reminds me, he writes, 'of my childhood in Sri Lanka.' 'To put these memories in a painting is another way of finding sacred space in silence, and sharing it with others.'
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Philip Bailey - The Wonders Of His Love.
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