lumen naturae - sound installation, Ely Cathedral

Recent world events have done much to emphasise differences between the three Abrahamic world religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In contrast, this work is constructed around unifying aspects of these three religious traditions. Alongside the doctrine of monotheism (that there is only one God) and the importance of worship and remembrance of God, it draws inspiration from the role and meaning of angels as glorifiers of God and as God's messengers.

Using recordings of choristers at Ely Cathedral singing declarations of praise (selected from the Old and New Testaments and Qu'ran), the piece gradually permeates through the cathedral's acoustic to evoke the idea of an angelic presence. Over a twenty minute period singing fills the cathedral through eight loud-speakers placed along the length of the nave. The layering and treatment of the material subtly evolves to form an ethereal but dense musical-angelic web of sound. Although contemporary in its mode of realisation, it is intended as a contemplative and sacred work.

The experience of this piece is to do with questioning ideas of reality and how awareness acts as a filter to understanding. It's clear that conditioning and life experiences shape an individual's views, opinions and knowledge; extending this idea, it's easy to argue that there may be realities that our accepted ‘everyday' consciousness has become blind to. Of course, a powerful example of this and with which this piece concerns itself, is the realm of angelic activity that forms a central tenet of the Abrahamic religions.

Angels are the unseen glorifiers, mediators and messengers behind every created thing; they bring forth the revelation of God's signs and the illumination of reality. As if for a moment, a temporary cleft appears in our inability to perceive this world of activity: to encounter the beauty and warm light of angelic illumination and to have raised in us that unique state of consciousness to see what is . The name lumen naturae makes the suggestion that in the soft radiance of natural light (in contrast to the consuming intensity of direct sunlight) there exists a reminder of this particular kind of enlightenment and awakening; an aspect of the spiritual journey that can be understood through the role and meaning of angels.

M J Sansom, June 2004