Visitors to Canterbury Cathedral this week have been taken aback to find its medieval interior covered in graffiti-style slogans, part of a new art installation that has drawn serious criticism. The work, titled “Hear Us”, transforms the pillars and walls of the nation’s mother church with brightly coloured lettering and stencil designs asking questions such as, “Are you there?”, “Why all the suffering?” and “Where does love come from?”
The images resembling spray-painted graffiti in a mix of street styles – which are removable – have led some to comment that the cathedral now looks more like “an underground car park in Peckham” than one of Christendom’s most venerated shrines, reports The Times. The Rev Marcus Walker, a London clergyman, expressed astonishment at the cathedral’s approach, posting on X: “There is something deeply bizarre about the way in which the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury delight in desecrating their sacred space. It feels almost Freudian.”
His remarks have been widely shared and have come to symbolise the disquiet felt by many about the treatment of such an important building and national shrine. The display has split public opinion. While some visitors have described the work as fresh and engaging, others have been appalled by its intrusion into a sacred space.
A statement from the cathedral admitted that the exhibition had provoked “visceral reactions”, with some finding the experience “discomforting” and even “sacrilegious”. The cathedral noted that the graphics though strikingly realistic are in fact temporary stickers that have been “expertly and sensitively applied” and will be removed before the enthronement of the Right Rev Sarah Mullally as the Church of England’s new Archbishop of Canterbury early next year.
Canterbury Cathedral, founded by St Augustine in 597 AD, has long stood at the centre of English Christianity. It has witnessed royal coronations, the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket, the turbulence of the Reformation and the destruction of war.
