Pilgrimage project on show at Trinity

A final year fine art student has created an art installation of over 600 sculptures for an exhibition which takes the viewer on their own personal journey.
Pilgrimage 09 is the work of Heather Dobbins, a mature student from Cross Hands. She says “If life is a journey, then each of us is a traveller - someone who journeys. Some of us journey for nostalgic or sentimental reasons; often without realising that we are on a pilgrimage and that we are in fact a pilgrim”.
She says that although the exhibition was first installed facing the alter of the University’s chapel, not all pilgrimages are for religious purposes.
Pilgrimage 09The artwork draws in the viewer claims Heather. “When you walk up to the piece you join the pilgrimage. As you pass the installation and the crowd you begin to respond to each of the beings there. Eventually you stand and face the crowd and they in turn all communicate with you”.
Heather first got the idea from a sketch of a silhouette and this led her to want to explore people who are different in some way. Originally the pieces showed figures praying and different religions’ ways of praying. “From there it grew to a piece that in some way echoed the work of Anthony Gormley but also it immediately took on a life of its own and became something completely different” she said.
Over two days people were invited to come to the University’s Ante-chapel to sculpt a figure from clay to be placed into the pilgrimage and to note a thought or prayer as part of the work. Parts of the process were filmed and will form a final year film for fellow third year student, Stuart Eckton who is studying the BA in Film Studies.
The work has now moved into the Ante-chapel and therefore has taken on a different form. “Pilgrimages don’t have to be a religious experience” says Heather. “People these days gather to worship idols which could just as easily be a Porsche, a MacDonald’s or those seeking sanctuary could even gather in front of the Immigration Office”.