Canterbury Cathedral graffiti exhibition sparks debate

KentOnline / KMTV

A new graffiti exhibition held at Canterbury Cathedral focuses on uplifting younger and marginalised communities, but what do Canterbury residents think?  Alfie Rowe reports.

Transcript

00:01An historic place of worship, marked in the most modern of ways.

00:07As the oldest Christian structure in England,

00:09Canterbury Cathedral has been through many transformations throughout the centuries.

00:14But never has it looked quite like this.

00:17The exhibition is about the young, marginalised community of Canterbury Cathedral

00:23asking God a question.

00:25We held a number of workshops within the Cathedral with marginalised people around the city

00:32who believe in God, but who believe that the Cathedral,

00:36they don't feel comfortable coming into the Cathedral,

00:38they don't feel it's a place for them.

00:40And this is giving them an opportunity to have their voice.

00:44And we asked them, what would you ask God?

00:48And these are their questions to God.

00:51The huge inspiration for the exhibition is the presence of historical graffiti itself in the Cathedral,

00:59stemming originally from mason's marks, where stone masons hundreds of years ago

01:04wanted to leave their personal mason's mark on the fabric

01:08to indicate that they were the person who did that work,

01:11that contributed to the building of the Cathedral.

01:14We have modern graffiti represented,

01:16and we have collections of graffiti going back several centuries.

01:20Combining old and new in such a bold fashion was bound to prove divisive.

01:25Even the US Vice President J.D. Vance has weighed in,

01:28saying in a post on X that the exhibition makes a beautiful historic building really ugly.

01:33And here in Canterbury the reaction has been equally strong.

01:37Honestly, I think it's atrocious.

01:39If you're looking at ways of bringing religion, history to the public,

01:46there's definitely more subtle ways of doing it.

01:50The colours, it blends in with the oldness of the church,

01:53and yeah, I'm quite impressed with it actually.

01:56I think it's disgraceful really, very disappointing that something like that

02:01is put into a historic building like this.

02:04I think that perhaps it's a way of getting through to younger people

02:08who perhaps don't always come into cathedrals and churches.

02:11So, yes, I'm very impressed.

02:14For his part, the Dean of Canterbury agrees,

02:17saying this exhibition intentionally builds bridges between cultures, styles and genres,

02:21and allows us to receive the gifts of younger people who have much to say.

02:26But whether considered works of art or glorified street tags,

02:29what is certain is that the Hear Us exhibition will continue to attract attention

02:33and encourage discussion.

02:36Alfie Rowe for KMTV in Canterbury.

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