St. John the Divine

In 2005/06, I had the opportunity to undertake a residency at St. John the Divine in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. The church had been recently acquired by BendInTheRiver gallery with the intention to turn into an art space. As their first artist in residence I had the unique opportunity to engage with this space that was neither a place of worship nor yet a dedicated locus of art. For this I used various processes from using my analogue medium format camera to a small digital video recorder to undertaking interviews with former users of the building. The resulting body of work consisting of a screen based sound piece, a video installation and a series of photographs.

In the photographic work, I particularly aimed to capture the unique stage of being neither this nor the other, of having no usage only potential to become something else. This period of time was made visible through the changing traces left behind by the people who slowly removed religious or valuable elements from the building. The ladders left in place for the next visit, the bucket to catch water from the leaking roof, the chairs left to take a break.

The work was shown in the solo show One two Infinity (2006) at BendInTheRiver gallery and at the building itself. St. John the Divine is now an art and community centre called x-church.

For moving image work relating to this series check in video.