As the Resilience in Clay exhibition at Chichester Cathedral comes to a close, a special In Conversation event was held at The Vicar’s Hall on the 26th August. The evening was hosted by the cathedral and Chichester Cathedral Friends. It began with an introduction from Interim Dean of Chichester, The Reverend Canon Simon Holland, followed by a moving talk from exhibition artist and Sanctuary volunteer Kate Viner. Sanctuary in Chichester trustee Philippa Gogarty provided an introduction to the challenges faced by asylum seekers, and the event concluded with a panel discussion featuring exhibition participants sharing their experiences.

First of all, Simon gave his emotional and intellectual response to the exhibition, saying how it was at first uncomfortable for him to be confronted by the powerful sculptures every day at work. They made him challenge his own perceptions and views. Then, as time went by, and Simon processed his feelings, they became familiar and more comfortable, but no less moving. He thanked the sitters present for this enriching experience.

Kate described how much she had learned from getting to know the seven sitters for her sculptures, each spending six three-hour sessions with the sculptor. She also paid tribute to the inspirational resilience shown by the sitters and read out some of the messages of welcome, encouragement and solidarity that had been left by visitors at the cathedral. Finally, Kate thanked Chichester Cathedral for their bravery in hosting the exhibition during their busiest months.

Philippa gave the audience some of the insights she had gained from volunteering in Calais and then taking in a young asylum seeker called Asme who she and her husband Rory helped through the asylum application process while he was living with them. When she first met Asme, Philippa described her shock at the fact that there was nowhere on the planet that he could legally call home.

The panel discussion was led by Simon and Gemma Driver, another Sanctuary in Chichester trustee, who asked the refugee panel about their experiences of the UK and of sitting for Kate, as well as how their participation in the exhibition has impacted them. All of them described what an eye-opening opportunity the exhibition had been and how Kate had been so kind and lacking in any judgment during the process.

The panel consisted of: Donya from Iran, sculpture sitter and designer of the magazine that accompanied the ‘A Common Thread’ section of the exhibition (embroidered contributions on values from community members); Lyse from Burundi, sculpture sitter, student, care worker and mother to six children; Dalal from Syria who is currently volunteering with UK Harvest (and her son Walid who helped with translation); and Walid from Afghanistan, ex-BBC Afghanistan journalist, author of an article in the magazine on the increasing gender apartheid faced by women and girls in Afghanistan.

Dalal described Kate as “so warm-hearted” and said that she had “learned a lot” from Kate. Lyse explained that she takes negative experiences and turns them into positives, and how this gives her strength. She never expected to go to university but is now about to start her degree at the University of Chichester. The experience of sitting for Kate, feeling listened to, building their friendship and having time away from her six children to reflect brought richness and additional strength to her life. Lyse also told the audience about being blown away by her friend crying when she came to see the sculptures – a common experience among many of the people present who had seen friends and strangers alike become emotional upon seeing the exhibition.

Donya explained how being part of the exhibition and seeing it displayed in the cathedral has been “a spiritual experience” for her, while Walid spoke about how life has worsened for people in Afghanistan in the three months since he wrote the article, due to the Taliban’s increased oppression of women and girls, and how he appreciated the opportunity to write the article and express his point-of-view to exhibition visitors.

At the end, another sitter who had been in the audience stood up to thank Kate. Pam is a volunteer with Sanctuary in Chichester and a guide at Chichester Cathedral as well as being descended from refugees, so it meant a lot to her to be part of the exhibition and to see visitors’ responses to it. She described her great respect for Kate’s work and how the three-hour sculpting sessions flew by because the conversation with Kate was so interesting.

Finally, John Siebert, Chair of the Cathedral Friends thanked Kate for the exhibition and everything it had brought to the cathedral as well as to everyone who had seen it and everybody involved in it.

We will post a recording of the event here shortly – hopefully next week…