I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kiki McGrath’s reflection and visual art essay Contemplative and Creative Practice.
For the past year I have been drawing and painting in a copy of Revelations of Divine Love, responding to this visionary text with graphite, oil pastel, and watercolor paint. Inspired by Julian of Norwich’s mystical experiences, I find her medieval life equally compelling: for more than twenty years she lived alone in an anchorhold—a room attached to a church—and wrote what is now the earliest surviving text by a woman in English. She also offered spiritual guidance to pilgrims and visitors, speaking from behind a black window curtain adorned with a white cross. Exploring religious history and finding ways to combine contemplative and creative practice are recurring themes in my artwork. Recently I constructed a temporary enclosure next to a stone chapel; visitors were invited to enter the cell and engage in solitary reflection, reading and writing. The Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage in Washington’s National Cathedral hosted this participatory installation to celebrate the 650th anniversary of Julian’s visions.
Exterior view of the curtained Anchorhold in Washington National Cathedral’s Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage, November 2023.
Writing Practice: transcriptions from the 13th Revelation.
Altered artist book: Revelations of Divine Love, a version from the MS in the British Museum edited by Grace Warrack, 13th edition, 1949. Watercolor and gold paint.
Altered artist book: Revelations of Divine Love, a version from the MS in the British Museum edited by Grace Warrack, 13th edition, 1949. Graphite and oil pastel.
Sewing practice: All shall be well, by Terri Lynn Simpson and Carol Woodside. Textile and thread.
Kiki McGrath is an interdisciplinary artist who works in laundry rooms, monasteries, galleries, and gardens. A recipient of the Grünewald Guild’s Sacred Art Fellowship, she shares her work at KikiMcGrath.com.
