The website of Canterbury Cathedral uses a catchy description of this landmark’s cultural inheritance: “Discover a day out 1,400 years in the making.” But for the past several years the cathedral has often offered art shows and other events that try to blend the 1,400-year-old surroundings with more contemporary themes.
Such ventures include a “silent disco” (launched in 2023 and returning this year), Poppy Fields, which honors war veterans with projected images that transform the walls of the nave, and now “Hear Us,” which relies on graffiti-style stickers that ask God such inchoate questions as “Are you there?” and “Why did you create hate when love is by far more powerful?”
If those questions have the ring of everyday people or barstool philosophers, there’s a reason for it. “Poet Alex Vellis and curator Jacquiline Creswell have joined forces with a team of skilled artists to craft a thought-provoking exhibition delving into the concept of raising a question to God in our contemporary society,” the cathedral’s website says.
“This project focuses on partnering with marginalised communities—such as Punjabi, black and brown diaspora, neurodivergent, and LGBTQIA+ groups—to collaboratively create handwritten literature responding to the question, ‘What would you ask God?’”
The free exhibition opens October 17 and runs through January 18, and responses to previews offered by the cathedral’s leaders have elicited protests.
“Can there be a better example of the philistine supremacy than the graffiti in Canterbury Cathedral? Again and again we see that the people who are in charge impose their philistinism on the public sphere,” cultural critic Henry Oliver wrote on Substack.
Another Substack author, Thomas L. McDonald, a deacon and Benedictine oblate, wrote more provocatively: “Since the Anglicans don’t seem to be using Canterbury for its true purpose, maybe they can give it back to the Catholics they stole it from.”
Vice President and Catholic convert J.D. Vance, who often shares his opinions on matters well beyond the realm of U.S. politics, came through again: “It is weird to me that these people don’t see the irony of honoring ‘marginalized communities’ by making a beautiful historical building really ugly.”
The Very Rev. David Monteith, dean of Canterbury Cathedral since December 2022, responded to critics in an article for i Paper. “There is a rawness which is magnified by the graffiti style, which is disruptive. There is also an authenticity in what is said because it is unfiltered and not tidied up or sanitised,” he wrote on October 10.
“People will love or hate our ‘Hear Us’ installation, no question. But rather than react just on the basis of a few online comments, I would encourage people to come and experience the artworks for themselves and to make up their own minds. Rather than be distracted by the aesthetics of the graffiti lettering, I hope that people will want to think deeply about the questions posed within the artworks and experience the sense of meaningful encounter that we want all who come to the Cathedral to have.”
Douglas LeBlanc is an Associate Editor and writes about Christianity and culture. He and his wife, Monica, attend St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Henrico, Virginia.
