In the lead up to Easter St Ethelburga's was home to two unusual and very different art installations. "Ice and Fire" and "Victim, no resurrection" provided focal points for people to reflect on the challenge of reconciliation in their own lives and communities, offering an alternative to other traditional ways of engaging with the Christian season of Lent. This was a time of firsts for St Ethelburga's - the first time we have used art and sculpture as a central tool for enhancing our understanding of reconciliation, the first time we have collaborated in such an involved way with artists and the first time we have run an event that lasted 24 hours!

As a team at St Ethelburga's we ventured into these projects with an intuition that that there was something valuable and of relevance to our work in what artists Sara Mark and Terry Duffy were proposing - what exactly this was we weren't quite sure. The niggling question in the back of my mind was "is there in fact a relationship between art and reconciliation and if so how important is this for helping to inspire and equip people to put reconciliation into practise?" What emerged from the two installations was a series of experiences and conversations that offered deep insight into some of the central themes of reconciliation.

Ice melting - 1 bowl
"Ice and Fire" was a 24 hour event that transformed the nave of St Ethelburga's into an active piece of artwork. Artist, Sara Mark, used the physical features of the building to the most beautiful effect, creating a space that was both nourishing and challenging to those in it. The melting block of ice, suspended from an ominously glistening industrial meat-hook in the west tower, was a cold and uncomfortable place to be for long. The constant drip, drip, drip, of the melt water hitting the steel bowl beneath it echoed hollowly around the silent building giving an impression of emptiness.

And yet the eternal dripping was also a companion and consolation throughout the long night - an ever-present and reliable comfort in the waiting. At one point a visitor put her hand out to catch the drips, interrupting the sound. Heads that had been contemplating in stillness suddenly whipped around towards the source of the silence. The 12 steel bowls that edged their way across the nave, counting time, to form a spine connecting the west of the building to the east were another reminder that something was happening in this place. The building itself was like a womb, holding us in a timeless space, safe from the world outside. The people who came, and went, and stayed and came back again all became part of this waiting and simply being. Allowing change to unfold. It was apparent that the space we were in was an integral part of the process of transformation.

Ice and fire - 10 bowls
We had initially subtitled the event "a vigil of transformation" but it became clear in our sitting with ice and fire that the transformed state is not a place we ever reach. Transformation is ongoing. Practicing reconciliation is being open to transforming oneself, all the time, again and again. This was displayed in the closing of the event when the block of ice, which should have completely melted out and released the linen by the end of the 24 hours, was still dripping away when we came to carry the melt water down to the Thames and return it to its source. The neat finish we had planned did not happen as expected. And in that frustrating and unfinished ending was a pertinent challenge to take the waiting and openness to change we had been nurturing back out into the real world.

"Victim, no resurrection" was a stark contrast to the beauty of "Ice and Fire". A 14 foot crucifix, that also hung from the west tower, it dominated the small building with its depiction of violent suffering and pain in a challenging and uncompromising way.

In the shadow of this disturbing painting over 200 people, over a two week period, reflected on and shared experiences and ideas about what it means to be a victim in our society. We invited visitors to respond directly to Terry Duffy's artwork.
Victim, no resurrection
Of particular poignancy were our daily lunchtime reflections - each led by a different friend and religious leader beginning with Rabbi Mark Winer from West London Synagogue and culminating with Revd. Richard Carter from St Martin-in-the-Fields. Each reflection was uniquely insightful and inspiring offering a myriad of interpretations and a wonderful richness of responses to "Victim". A reoccurring theme was how hope can be found in the midst of terrible suffering and despair - reflecting the Christian understanding of redemption, which is such a strong theme during Lent, and reminds us of the possibility of renewal - the power by which things are remade.

Listening to these I became more aware of how art can be an important trigger for connecting people with their emotions and unconscious and facilitating deep responses that are not so easily possible in intellectual dialogue or conversation.

I also became aware of how creativity, and being allowed the space to express our creativity, is an important part of the journey towards reconciliation and wholeness. In a discussion about the politics of victimhood Helen Bamber spoke to us about the struggle asylum seekers face to rebuild their lives when they are often forced by society into telling and retelling their experiences of pain and suffering in order to prove they are victims that deserve help and support. She pointed to a need for society to recognise the gifts and creativity of the individuals that come here to seek sanctuary which could be life-giving both for the individuals and society as a whole. Brendan McAllistair reiterated this point from the experience of Northern Ireland and both noted how society demonises victims and regards them as a nuisance once the victim empowers themself to voice their needs.

So as we move into the Easter season I do so with a new understanding of how art and artists have an important contribution to make to the work of reconciliation and peacebuilding. Not only is art a tool for stimulating thought and discussion about particular issues, it is a force that can help us re-create the past, present and future and find new understandings of ourselves and our society. This hope in the new creation*, as Rebecca Blocksome notes from her work with young artists in post-conflict Bosnia, "effects the transmutation of destruction into creativity; ugliness into beauty; and brokenness into wholeness. Art itself stands as a tangible sign of this transfiguration, a curious amalgamation of this world and the one yet to come."**

We look forward to exploring the synergies of art and reconciliation further at St Ethelburga's.

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* 2 Corinthians 5:17

**Blocksome, R., "The Art of War and Peace: Theories of Creativity and Conflict Resolution" in Theology and Art, p. 176