This is Here
(2015)

In October 2015 a group of artists and curators were invited by Aalto Projects to respond to St. Bartholomew the Great, the oldest church in the City of London, by planning, making and installing an exhibition over the course of two days. Rather than attempt to compete with this magnificent space as other artists had attempted to do, I decided instead to play to the specificities of photography and the contrasts these could offer, attempting to relate the ancient, enduring and vast scale of St.Bartholomew’s to the intimacy, fragility and temporality of a printed photograph.

While exploring the church I was drawn to the floor tombstones, many of which have been heavily worn by the footsteps of countless monks, priests and parishioners. These stones are all set to face east, a practice which reflects the biblical characterisation of Christ as the rising sun, who would return in the east on the Day of Judgement to consume the unfaithful and raise true believers. I re-photographed sections of these tombstones and before reproducing them at life size, overlaying the prints directly on to the original tombs. The light in the church is stark and constantly changing and these photographs capture the shadows at particular times of day. As the light moves around the church the shadows in the space gradually come to align with those in the photographs, creating a sundial effect.