Monotype, Photographic Print on manipulated paper

4 panels 115cm x 30cm each

“After the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536 until the inauguration of the new Quarr Abbey in 1912, the devotional light of the Abbey and its community was held within a darkness, precariously only pierced by those holding their belief that an Abbey would one day return to Quarr. This work explores the physical and spiritual presence held during those 376 years of darkness with each centimetre of print representing a year of waiting and the seam of light that was held. The images printed are taken directly from photographs and drawings of the old Quarr Abbey site. The sister work to this piece explores the ‘light’ years before the disillusion and the current period at the new Quarr Abbey.” Each length of centimetre represents one year that the monastery was inactive.

This work was created in response to Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight for the Ryde Art Collective exhibition ‘Via Vitae’ Autumn 2024. The work was in stalled in two locations and consists of two separate but directly connected installations.