Stepping inside the image: a case study in Sacred Space and art

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis case study seeks to establish a new context within which Sacred Space may be discerned: the encounters that take place around a work of art. Drawing on doctoral research into spiritual well-being in which groups of young people explored a variety of artworks, this article builds on writing within the fields of theological aesthetics and pastoral care which discern features of Sacred Space. Five features are identified that justify the designation ‘Sacred Space’, peculiar to the conversations which may take place around a work of art: a sense of awe; ‘ownership’ whereby an image becomes personal; a sense of presence in the art usually reserved for a sentient being; awareness of the transcendent presence of many voices; and a heightened sense of spatiality whereby participants experience being drawn within the image.