286 Places of Worship – Nathan Coley

While the medium is dramatically different, Nathan Coley’s stunning work shares similar ground to my research.  The Lamp of Sacrifice, 286 Places of Worship comprises cardboard replicas of every building listed as a place of worship in the 2004 Yellow Pages for Edinburgh.  This catalogue of work shares another link to my research: it was my original intention to exhibit photographs of stained glass windows removed from their context to give a uniformity to the work.  Coley’s idea to reconstruct the places of worship in brown cardboard, devoid of religious insignia was to unite the buildings as one group or community.  The piece explores an idea from the Victorian artist and critic John Ruskin (1819-1900): that buildings and architecture are two separate things. One is functional, the other is art.

John Lord (2015) The Lamp of Sacrifice by Nathan Coley

John Lord (2015) The Lamp of Sacrifice by Nathan Coley

John Lord (2015) The Lamp of Sacrifice by Nathan Coley