All The Saints, A Covid Memorial for All Saints' Church, Child's Hill, London - 2022

In early 2022, the PCC of All Saints' Church invited the artist to create a Covid Memorial. To harness the experiences of the local community, she ran a workshop where stories were shared, people and objects of significance were professionally photographed, and all were invited to write down words and phrases that expressed their own experiences.

The designs (on the outside east wall and the children’s window on the north side), have been created using modern techniques, combined with a traditional method of re-using broken stained-glass fragments to form new, often very abstract, designs. The result is known as a ‘fragment window’.

The artist says, ‘This artwork reflects our shared sense that the reality of the world as we knew it had been smashed. We were trying to make sense of the shards of our lives lying at our feet. I soon saw that a fragment window offered a way to express a community response, including the faith communities, characterised by people gathering those shards together, keeping their stories safe, and seeking ways to put their world together again. I noticed how many themes in the workshop mirrored both my own experience and that of many people I have spoken to.'

​The finished windows acknowledge the damage, loss, and difficulties of the pandemic, but make something new and coherent with what remains, and with the creativity and faith that people bring to the present. The ‘fragment window’ also calls to mind the loss of the east windows during the Second World War and celebrates the renewal of the church after the catastrophic fire of 1945. It is fitting that these new windows are dedicated by the Bishop of London on the 70th anniversary of the rededication of All Saints' Church in 1952.

information on this work please email Sophie