Hello.
I am back again for more critiques about art in religious spaces! Last time I blogged under the category of Arts & Culture, I wrote about The Servant King textiles in the Holy Trinity Church at Stratford-upon-Avon.
If you haven’t read my blog post ‘Stratford-upon-Avon: The Servant King’ and would like to, click here. If you have read it or don’t feel like reading it, please continue with this blog.
We visited Salisbury Cathedral after our trip to Stonehenge. To be quite honest, I enjoyed the cathedral a lot more than Stonehenge. Mostly because there was so much hype around the history and spirituality of Stonehenge, that a part of me expected to see something mystical. YES, I EXPECTED RITUALS AND I EXPECTED TO BE TRANSFORMED.
There were no rituals and I am still the same old me.
But let me tell you a secret… The cathedral I mentioned earlier, yeah the Salisbury Cathedral, it took my breathe away.
Since I took the Prague Art & Architecture class this fall term, I am now an expert in art and architecture *wink wink*.
I noticed immediately that the cathedral is tall and slender which is why it had flying buttresses. Flying buttresses allow for the thrust of the taller arches to be directed to the buttresses and prevent it from collapsing. The arches all over the building are pointy, so it must be Gothic architecture. I am confident with my assumption when I saw three large windows accompanied by an assortment of other windows in front of the cathedral, this meant that there is a lot of natural light inside. When I went inside the cathedral, I was definitely sure that it was Gothic architecture because of the rib vaulting. Since it’s Gothic architecture, the cathedral was most likely built around the early 13th century.
What I really love about Salisbury Cathedral was its ability to convey this sense of magnificence without being too visually flamboyant and overwhelming. Ana Maria Pacheco’s installation, Shadows of the Wanderer, echoed this sense of importance without being too much as well. Shadows of the Wanderer is located in the South transept of the cathedral and will remain on exhibition with other works sited around until July 23, 2017.
Unlike The Servant King, I didn’t feel that the installation was out of place. Instead, Shadows of the Wanderer added to the theme around it. It shares the South transept of the cathedral with the Chapel of St. Lawrence. According to the description beside the chapel, St. Lawrence was a deacon of Rome in the third century. He was burned alive for giving away the Church’s riches to the poor after being told by the prefect of Rome to give them up. He then presented the needy, suffering, blind people to the prefect and said “the church is indeed truly richer with these people”. Shadows of the Wanderer seemed as though the people wandering are those he presented to the prefect of Rome.
The installation has at its center a man carrying another man who seem to be struggling. Both of these men are surrounded by other people with a black coat covering their bodies. Their faces have a pale gray appearance that reflect horror, fear, sorrow, and pain. The light that shines through the large windows of the Cathedral hits the sculptures so that their shadows are visible on the floor below them. The shadows emphasize a sense of loss, confusion and wandering.
One interpretation that came to mind is the current refugee crisis and the issue of deportation in the United States. Perhaps Ana Maria Pacheco wanted to make viewers of her art empathize with people who cannot remain where they are but have nowhere to go.
Or…
Shadows of the Wanderer portrays the sense of confusion many young people feel when coming to terms with their identity. Immediately I thought of the novel we are currently reading in class, The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi. I was able to visualize Karim’s struggle with his identity as “an Englishman born and bred, almost” (Kureishi, 3) through the installation. The cloaked individuals symbolize different stages and emotions that come with accepting oneself. At the center the two uncloaked men, one carrying the other are meant stand out. Perhaps this imagery suggests that individuals would only find their way when they accept the burden placed upon them by society. Thus, our Karim would always have a burden to bear and only when he accepts this would he be able to find himself no longer cloaked by the shadows.
Art is a powerful medium, Ana Maria Pacheco’s Shadows of the Wanderer forced me to reflect on myself and the current world I live in. Unlike The Servant King, it complimented the chapel in the transept and there was something to walk away with.
Until Next Time,
~Edylwise ‘19
Kureishi, Hanif. The Buddha of Suburbia. New York (N.Y.): Penguin , 1991. Print.
