Thought for the Week – ‘Looking with’: Racial Justice, Faith and Creativity

When we spend time in the presence of another person, there is a profound and meaningful difference between ‘looking at’ and ‘looking with’. From 3-9 October,  St Mary-le-Strand, a small church near Somerset House and King’s College London, is home to an exhibition titled Congregation. It is a deeply moving example of ‘looking with’. The curator is Eckow Eshun, who was also the curator for St James’s Piccadilly’s permanent art commission by Che Lovelace in honour of the 250^th anniversary of the baptism of Quobna Ottobah Cugoano.

Congregation features 50 portraits, bigger than life size, of refugees who now call London home. They come from many countries and each person has a unique story to tell about who they are and the journeys they’ve made. The artist and designer Es Devlin created the portraits while listening to each co-author of the exhibition share their story. Devlin explained that in the 45 minutes she spent with each person, “I am drawing not only a portrait of a stranger, but also a portrait of the assumptions I inevitably overlay: I am drawing my own perspectives and biases. I am trying to draw in order to better perceive and understand the borders of separation, the architectures of otherness that I suspect may stand between us.” Hospitality in these spaces and stories is the fabric of the group of portraits filling this church, animated by music from different traditions that together sing out, “This is my home”.

For almost 350 years, St James’s Piccadilly has been and continues to be a place where difference, unity, and the pain and joy of being together and listening deeply to one another is all brought into the heart of God in the Eucharist. When we pray together, we pray that God will hear our words and also hear our silences, as we give thanks for the life that is God’s alongside God’s gift of life in each of us.

Spending time with the Congregation exhibition, and within the congregation at St James’s, teaches me about what it means to belong, what home can feel like, and why connection matters so deeply. This month is Black History Month and the interweaving of the past, the present and the future in relation to liberation and a longed-for end to racism strikes a chord as I look with the faces of these Londoners and look with the Cugoano paintings at St James’s, determined to disentangle and dismantle the structures of separation that continue to perpetuate racist injustice in the Church of England and beyond.

History is never really in the past, because it’s always flowing into our present and shaping our future too. Heritage can be shared in so many ways. It can also be perceived very differently depending on someone’s lived experience, and it is with this diversity and layers of challenging history in mind that the Contested Heritage Committee was formed in the Church of England. Many churches are beginning to discern how to engage with conversations regarding racism, enslavement, colonialism, and heritage. At both national and grassroots level, there is a lot of work to do, and even beginning that work – opening up the conversation – is an act of courage and trust-building. During Black History Month, St James’s is reflecting on its relationship to local and global heritage and the need for racial justice in a series of conversations, services, and events.

This includes a recent conversation I had with Novelette Aldoni-Stewart, who has been Chair of the CHC and is now Chair of the Church Buildings Council. In our conversation she talked about “reclaiming one’s self, past, and roots” in relation to heritage and the exploration of shared histories that can bring new stories of every kind to light. She explained that grace is at the core of our shared need to listen, learn, and change. Through deep listening and theologically-rooted discernment, churches and congregations can imagine a more just world, and take action towards liberation. They – we – have to want it, to dare to work for it, to strive for it, and to listen attentively to one another – to ‘look with’ and not merely ‘look at’ ourselves and each other. This can bring us into deep contact with our own assumptions and prejudices – personal and collective. As James Baldwin put it, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

Novelette’s background as a heritage administrator, conservator, and advocate for racial justice especially through the arts and cultural institutions, made for a powerful conversation about St James’s and about the challenges of sharing histories and legacies honestly and fully. The Church of England’s connections to enslavement and racism are increasingly well known, and there is much to learn, whether the context is a small parish church in a rural village, St James’s in the centre of London, or a cathedral with centuries of colonial monuments and memorials embedded in its walls.

Installed in September 2023, Che Lovelace’s paintings have been seen by thousands of people across the past year. People come to St James’s for so many reasons: to worship God; listen to music; get married; mourn loved ones; rest, talk; eat; make friends; learn about themselves and others; and to just be. In this sacred place, open to people of all faiths and none, the response to Lovelace’s paintings and to Cugoano’s story has been and continues to be powerful. Together with the new monument to Cugoano in the church, by the font where he was baptised, these works of art are part of the historic fabric of St James’s, simultaneously telling an old story and a new one. In the context of the Congregation exhibition, and Lovelace’s Cugoano paintings at St James’s, I’ve decided to engage with two documents this month, learning and reflecting, and thinking about what they mean in my life, as well as in the life of the Church. They are the 2021 report, From Lament to Action, and the 2023 report from the Church Commissioners titled Healing, Repair and Justice. In this process, I hope that I will recognise ways to ‘look with’, to learn more, to pray, and to engage more deeply with racial justice in a world and a Church that longs for liberation.