A festival in Manchester is seeking to bring together the spiritual and the secular through artwork across the city examining key Lenten themes such as stillness, temptation, prayer and mindfulness.
Through a combination of contemporary installations, sculptures and live perfomances across secular and sacred spaces, PassionArt hopes to bring Lent into the heart of the city during the 'Be Still' festival.
"Lent can often have a negative connotation in the secular world, inspiring images of boring people giving up drinking or having fun," Lesley Sutton, who has been in ministry in Manchester for 28 years, told Christian Today.
The title 'Be Still' was chosen because "seeking slowness and stillness in a busy city is a spiritual exercise that all can engage with," she said.
"Culturally, the practice of mindfulness is very popular currently, as a positive way of engaging with spirituality. And actually this idea is close to what Lent is about. It is about Jesus going into the wilderness. It is about retreating and creating space to engage with God.
"The stillness is something everybody needs whether you are a person of faith or not, to get in touch with your inner self is important."
Among the art work on display is that of world-renowned ceramicist Julian Stair, whose work 'Quietus Revisited: The vessel, death and the human body' is displayed in Manchester Cathedral. The work looks at bereavement and how Western culture moves on from death very quickly. It is the result of the artist's personal grief and "ten years of creatively working through it".
Stair's piece includes a small urn made from a mixture of clay and the ashes of his relative, with the remainder of the ashes inside. Two video screens tell the life story of the deceased.
Another artwork is hosted in a co-working venue in Northern Manchester, intentionally collaborating with but also contrasting between the sacred and the secular. In this space Micah Purnell critiques contemporary culture in relation to the Temptations of Jesus while in the wilderness.
The art works can be enjoyed individually or as part of a day long pilgramige through the city. The official launch of the festival is today at Manchester Cathedral, although the art work is already on display.
