When I talk about my artwork and its role as illustration or painitngs on prints on walls, I always talk about its ability to start conversations. This is the point of it being on exhibition or being sold. When I began as an artist, I had no idea that this would be any individual piece’s purpose or my overall purpose as an artist. I just created art. As my art started to blend with my theology after my ordination, I noticed that the artwork, in whatever form, became a kind of proclamation about justice. This was as unexpected for me as it may be for you.
The Spirit Justice tour is on its second leg, now at The Dandelion Community in Wythenshawe, south Manchester. This is what the Revd Kate Gray, minister of the community, told me about their first Sunday with the paintings:
“We had a whole service about it yesterday with 50% of the congregation with adults who don't read or write and the conversations were amazing - with reflection on experiences like childlessness and fathering, about education in schools, about the slave trade and human trafficking, about people in small boats seeking safety. They shared about childhood experiences of abuse, of religious control and of what kind of God, what kind of church and what kind of people we are in relation to all of these. People loved that they didn't have to go to an art gallery to see your art and that the materials and professional presentation of your work was very important for them too in receiving it. Wow. Thankyou.”
Kate kindly took a few videos of me talking about the work. Here’s the one on Padonna:
If you want to see others, they’re on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc1k_-8erzjYvKmtPS6wldg
