Sorelle Povere Di Santa Chiara

This is a developing and growing multi-part series of works made in collaboration with the enclosed contemplative order of Poor Clares in the Monastery of Santa Chiara in San Marino. It records and films the community in different media which then opens different perspectives on their religious life and Franciscan theology.
The works were installed in a video diptych with transcript, a sound piece for church speakers and an artist’s publication as part of the multi-media work in the Augustinian church in Hammersmith London. The installation suggested number of dialogues; a theological dialogue between the Augustinian and Franciscan orders represented by the space and the works. The rural setting of the women’s ‘hidden’ life and the host church in the middle of London are brought together. This dialogue then extends to the gendered inhabitation of the church by the woman-centred works and in particular the ambient sounds of domestic work and activities recorded within the Clarissian monastery.  The exhibition was part of the Contemporary Art programme curated by the Augustinians, pioneering a new relationship with contemporary art.  Austin Forum, St. Augustine’s Church, Hammersmith November 2018.