Stations of Life: the Way of the Cross — an exhibition on «personal crucifixions» in Emmanuel Church West Hampstead
This Lent, Stations of Life: the Way of the Cross opens a space for reflection. It invites all — believer, sceptic, seeker — to pause before the translucency of the glass and recognise their own “moments of grace” caught in the light. The opening evening on 22 March extends this summons into a sensory welcome — the community’s lived experiences will be joined by ambient sound and the scents of the wider world, drawing visitors closer to the universal path of the Way of the Cross.
Following months deep in the congregation’s life, Kiparis has mapped the parallels between Christ’s Passion and the “personal crucifixions” borne by people today. From those shared reflections of trial and grace she has forged new works in glass — contemporary pieces that root the ancient narrative into the actual history of the London community; the Stations that belong as much to the people who spoke as to the artist who shaped them.
The ordinary has entered the canon. Standing in dialogue with the church’s original Victorian paintings of the Fourteen Stations, the new creations force an unlikely symmetry across the church: the canonical and the witnessed face each other.
The choice of glass carries its own history. Having lost much of its original stained glass during the Blitz, Emmanuel has kept the “ghost windows” of the 20th century. Kiparis’s commission answers the loss: light and colour flooding back into the nave in permanent form that honours the architecture’s scars while illuminating its future.
Witness your own story canonised.
Stations of Life: the Way of the Cross is a major site-specific commission by the artist Anna Kiparis in collaboration with Revd Dr Catriona Laing that inhabits the Grade II-listed Emmanuel Church West Hampstead throughout Lent.
Opening: 22 March, 5pm, Emmanuel Church West Hampstead, Lyncroft Gardens, London NW6 1JU.
Curator: Il Gurn
Website: https://stationsoflife.co.uk
Admission: Free
On view throughout Lent until Easter Sunday, 5 April
Artist’s bio: Anna Kiparis (b. 1990, Tashkent, USSR; based in London, UK)drawing on her background in architecture, Anna Kiparis investigates human-made interiors with a particular focus on sacred spaces.
Anna is currently developing her own medium, bringing together three principal strands of ecclesiastical art: painting, sculpture and stained glass. Over several years, she has also initiated author-led collaborations with artists, writers and cultural practitioners, revealing hidden zones of interaction between different artistic disciplines. Her previous projects include A Time to Gather Stones at The Crypt Gallery, London and Play Against War at Rudolf Steiner House, London.
Her current commission for Emmanuel Church, West Hampstead, extends this enquiry through the Fourteen Stations of the Cross as experienced by a contemporary congregation. The project is developed in collaboration with the Reverend Dr Catriona Laing of the Church of England.
