St Mary's, Wolborough
Newton Abbot, Devon - 2023
For this body of work my aim was to capture the spirit of St Mary’s Church from its opulent stained glass windows to the intimate hand-stitched cushions made by former parishioners for kneeling in prayer.
With large structural pieces representing the institutional fabric of the church, punctuated with the small, homely paintings representing the people who are at its heart, I aim to build a holistic impression of the two coming together to produce a union of community and faith.
The Church has long been associated with law, stricture and masculinity (certainly in the early days). This, juxtaposed with the largely female domesticity of sewing and creativity sets up a conversation surrounding the role of each in a historical community.
