I asked Mary Branson to tell us a little about her installation, Damascus Road which opens our visual arts programme at St George’s for this year.
Mary Branson
My intentions are to create a light and sound installation which transforms St Georges into a space which speaks about Damascus Road, which is a contemporary take on the biblical story of Saul later to become St Paul on the road to Damascus. I am doing this by focussing my enquiry on the question of what is a life changing moment for us? By framing the architecture with specific light intensities within St Georges to create an illusion of change. I don’t want to give too much away!
For the past 2 months I have been interviewing people about their life changing moments. This has been a very humbling experience, I never know what someone is going to say and every time the story is totally unexpected and always special. It’s an unexpected honour to be collecting all this material.
Since I started creating installations I have been drawn to explain my ideas in light, be it artificial or natural light. I think it is an incredibly powerful medium and one of my heroes Dan Flavin; when he creates a light installation you are physically transformed…I like that. Also I spent my time growing up travelling with my family – my dad was a long haul flight engineer – so my formative years were spent flying a lot in Jumbo jets looking down on runway lights and surrounded by cockpit/galley/seat lighting. Its all low lit and repetitive. I then went on to be a long haul stewardess for ten years…so these environments are my blood!
The architecture of churches is epic and I love the sense of history locked within them and the feeling of time standing still. I love the live acoustics that makes you aware of yourself whenever you move and the still coldness.
I was brought up as a RC, so being allowed to create in these spaces still amazes me, as there were such strict codes of behaviour with the church when I was a child. Every Sunday and feast days I would go to church and through a series of visual and sensory transformations like bells, candles, curtains, incense the congregation were able to collectively engage in ritual worship. This still fascinates me. I also enjoy bringing people who are not familiar with these spaces and their particular atmosphere and showing them how interesting and beautiful they are.
I am a conceptual artist and my heroes are Bill Viola, for how he communicates complex ideas of human existence through challenging large-scale video/sound installations, Dan Flavin for taking everyday fluorescent lights and turning them into art and then creating physically and visually transformative installations with them, Christo for his ambition and determination to realise mammoth installations within the landscape that are temporary, I love his process and I love the documentation of his work, and how he can galvanise so many people to realise his artistic vision.
The installation opens at St George’s Arts on 17 March.
Launch: Thursday 17 March 7.00 pm – 9.00 pm
Open: Friday 18 – Wednesday 23 March, 7.00 pm – 8.30 pm
Closing event and Artist’s Talk: Thursday 24 March 7.00 pm – 9.00 pm
St George’s Arts, St George’s Church, Esher Park Avenue, Esher, Surrey KT10 9RQ
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