St Cyriac’s is a jewel: an ancient English village church and a community of which I was a part for 5 years in 2015. Situated in Lacock, Wiltshire (a place full of medieval houses and National Trust pilgrims), the church reflects the deep and brilliant hues of lives coloured by religious tradition. When appointed by the Parochial Church Council to work on design and community art work projects, I took over 3,000 photographs of life at St Cyriac’s over 2 years or so. These photographs have had the quality in my head and heart of not going away, becoming compounded by historical photographs and local stories, and revealing an absolute abundance of Lacock as a place of faith through time.

Over several years,We Went to Church on Monday began to distill through the formal composition of 40 diptychs. My photographs, which began as an insider view following the church year and its festivals, started to tell their story across and with older printed material: records of a 1920 pageant, Fox Talbot’s first photographs of the building in 1839, and NADFAS inventories. The choir members, clergy and youth group began to converse with photographs of royal visits and British Council propaganda. The final output will be a limited edition photobook publication and exhibition, a creative exploration of layered history and living symbolism in this wonderful place.