Gillian Lever - Pilgrim Cello at Coventry Cathedral

Pilgrim Cello is nearing the end of its journey. On Friday 4th July Kenneth will complete his bicycle pilgrimage around the 42 Anglican Cathedrals arriving at Carlisle Cathedral where he will perform a Meditation on the Seven Last Words of Jesus at 2pm that day. The Meditation consists of JS Bach’s beautiful solo cello music, interspersed with poems of reflection by Kenneth on Jesus’s last words from the cross.

The performance also incorporates seven of my abstract paintings that have been carried around the country in a specially designed reliquary gilded by Jake. The artworks are exhibited as an integral part of the experience of the Meditation.

The story of the Pilgrimage is recorded in Kenneth Wilson’s Blog here.

Last Friday Pilgrim Cello was at Coventry Cathedral. The current Coventry Cathedral, built to replace the former cathedral bombed in the Second World War, was designed by Basil Spence. The selection of Spence for the work resulted from a competition held in 1950 to find a new architect for the Cathedral; his design was chosen from over two hundred submitted. The new St Michael’s Cathedral, a Grade 1 listed building, was built immediately adjacent to the ruins and tower of the former cathedral. It forms both a symbol of war-time destruction and barbarity, and also of peace and reconciliation. The interior is a treasure trove of modernist artwork and includes a vast tapestry of Christ designed by Graham Sutherland that is thought to be the world’s largest tapestry, made in a single piece. The Baptistery Window, where Pilgrim Cello was performed, was designed by John Piper and made by Patrick Reyntiens occupying the full height of the bowed Baptistery and comprising 195 panes of glass and measures 26 metres high.

Basil Spence said of John Piper’s window that it was ‘a staggering design and to my mind a masterpiece.’ 

Following the bombing of the cathedral in 1940, Provost Richard Howard had the words “Father Forgive” inscribed on the wall behind the altar of the old ruined cathedral. ”Father, forgive  them, for they do not know what they are doing” is the first of Jesus’s sayings from the cross and the words that open the Pilgrim Cello Meditation. It was humbling to attend the Meditation at Coventry, listen to the poetry and music and to see my artwork exhibited in that context. 

The Pilgrim Cello paintings never stay in one place for long. Packed into their golden reliquary they soon continued their journey on Kenneth’s bicycle. Following Coventry their next stop was in Shropshire where some of Kenneth’s old friends were hosting him. The paintings were unpacked and viewed on a garden table - a context that felt equally fitting. When Kenneth and I originally devised the collaboration we enjoyed the resonance with the medieval tradition of ‘relics’ being touched and touching people in unpredictable ways.