This installation set in the Light Well has been made by the hands of people at St Martin-in-the-Fields. Individuals from across our shared life – Church congregation, Chinese community, clergy, staff, clients from the Connection and members of our International Group – have, over some time, gathered together over tables of clay and carefully formed the pieces which fill the Light Well. Each porcelain ‘lantern’ is filled with light from a simple string of lamps. They will sit together in-situ for one week, during which we celebrate the Feast of St Martin and also the 30th anniversaries of St Martin-in-the-Fields Limited and the Bishop Ho Ming Wah Community Centre.
Conversations around the tables when making the lanterns touched on ‘cracked pots’, Jesus’ story of searching for the 100th sheep, the continental tradition of ‘St Martin’s day’ paper lanterns, networks of sea buoys, St Paul describing light inside clay vessels, faces, the fragility of our lives and bodies, ‘broken but not crushed’, and Leonard Cohen: ‘Forget your perfect offering / There is a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in.’ This installation has been the work of Anna Sikorska, Jonathan Evens, Katja Werne, Jim and Sarah Sikorski and everyone who accepted a lump of porcelain and gave it a form. Thank you.
From the 19th November you are invited to be part of changing the gathered constellation into an expanded field, dispersing the pots/lanterns amongst our community and beyond. You will be able to buy a piece to take away and light a small candle inside. Proceeds to the New Art Studio and Art Refuge UK, both charities working with art therapy in the context of migration and displacement. Each lantern costs £10 (cash only) and must be collected on the morning of Sunday 19 November. To reserve a lantern go to the Box Office.
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.
