Our Colour Reflection is an ambitious new work by British artist Liz West that transforms the interior of a former church in Scunthorpe, using hundreds of mirrors to reflect lighting into the roof space, projecting colour up into the historic interior.
Viewers will see themselves in the mirrored surfaces as they explore the space of the neo-gothic St John's Church, which has since become the Visual Arts Centre, creating a dialogue between viewer, artwork and architecture.
Editor and writer Francis Pearce observes: "Taking time to research and consider the history of the building and the weight of connotations it holds as a former place of worship, West has thought about stained glass and the importance of light within the space. Viewers will each have their own perspectives and their own experiences tempered by movement through the space and through time. By going unplugged here, West emphasises that while artificial light can be manipulated it can only, at best, replicate the dynamism, shifting mood and changes in quality embodied in natural light."
A graduate of The Glasgow School of Art, Liz creates installations that use light and colour to transform spaces, and people’s experience of them. She aims to provoke a heightened sensory awareness in the viewer, tapping into our deeply entrenched relationship with colour, and exploring how it can move viewers, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually.
Previous large-scale works have included Your Colour Perception, which had visitors returning to Manchester’s Federation House to witness the space saturated in colour, and her acclaimed installation An Additive Mix at the National Media Museum. Recent months have seen her shortlisted for the prestigious Aesthetica Art Prize, receiving a Bursary Award from the Royal Society of British Sculptors, and complete a major public-realm commission in the Spinningfields district of Manchester.
For further details about Our Colour Reflection visit www.liz-west.com. You can also view the installation for yourself until 25 June 2016.
Get the best of Creative Boom delivered to your inbox weekly