Identity

This is the third of Peter Walker’s installations  to feature in my blips. First was Peace Doves in August 2021 https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2878399075630188459 , then Being Human last August  https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3011431299941403238, and today it’s Identity. 

I don’t think anything will have as much impact as the beautiful Peace Doves, but Identity comes close. 

It’s been an early start with a chest CT at Liverpool Women’s Hospital at 8.30 - the journey much easier from Daniel and Solveig’s home.  It’s a very quick and efficient appointment in a near-deserted hospital, and we’re so early we have to wait in the car for the cathedral to open. From photos that I’ve seen, I’m expecting to be a little underwhelmed by Identity - but I really love it. The seven columns of constantly changing colour have an instant, if rather superficial appeal. They’re just there, rather like huge organ pipes. But it’s actually getting up close and personal that their magic becomes apparent, and I can’t resist lying on the floor beneath them to photograph the inside of these hanging columns. Few others venture into this area, preferring to get more conventional shots; I’m sure I get some strange looks, but I’m past embarrassment - though right now my mobility is compromised, so grace is certainly far from apparent! 

This extract from the cathedral’s website explains more: 

'IDENTITY: We Are All Together' is Liverpool Cathedral’s largest installation to date!
Sculpted inside the building, ‘IDENTITY’ introduces seven illuminated columns, suspended over the Well. Each column is lit, with individual strips of light representing the double helix of DNA and demonstrating the unique make up of each person. Together, the seven columns represent our distinct differences, gathered in union.   
Whilst the reference to DNA demonstrates the uniqueness of us all, the columns are wrapped in over 3000 individual portraits, all photographed as part of Peter Walker’s 2022 installation ‘Being Human’, presented together as a collective. 

I’m not completely convinced about the artistic merit of the photographs - though it’s a nice idea, and links the sculptor’s series. What I do love, however, is just how hard the cathedral works to belong to the people of the city - ‘built by the people; for the people; to the glory of God’ - and these strings of images captured in last year’s photo booth, do much to symbolise this. 

Of course, it’s hard to select a main - so many angles, so many colours - so inevitably it’s a rather indulgent set today, I’m afraid! I’ve also included a collage of mono portraits - a selection  from the Photo Booth, and another collage showing the changing colours inside one of the columns.