Archive

Deities At The Bottom Of The Garden

Deities At The Bottom Of The Garden is a sculptural installation comprising twelve hand-built garden sheds, each containing the interior of a different place of worship. Over a period of three years every structure, artefact and devotional object was individually researched, sourced or made by hand.

The project began with a single shed, influenced by the architecture of Islam and the global political climate, and made whilst I was living and working in Istanbul. At the time I found myself thinking about hidden worship and the priest holes of Tudor England. If people were forced to conceal their faith today, where would they go? A modern house has no place for a priest hole. The most familiar place of refuge seemed to be the garden shed.

That first work became the starting point for a larger installation. Following its inclusion in Blasphemous at the Irish Museum of Contemporary Art, I added Catholic and Protestant sheds to the project, and separated them by a suburban garden fence. From there the project expanded into twelve individual places of worship, each sharing the same modest exterior while revealing a very different interior world.

Although arranged together in a circle, each shed is orientated according to the traditions of the faith it represents, acknowledging its own sacred geography while sharing a common space. The circle recalls our earliest sacred places. Long before temples, churches and mosques, people were already setting places apart in an attempt to understand themselves and the world around them.

The work is not an exploration of individual religions so much as a reflection upon a shared human impulse. Throughout history people have created spaces for contemplation, ritual, remembrance and hope. Whether cave, temple, church, mosque or garden shed, these are places where ordinary materials become vessels for belief, memory and meaning.

Every shed was approached with the same care and respect. Alongside hand-made furniture, vessels and architectural details, many of the devotional objects are genuine. Miniature sacred texts were collected during my travels, the altars contain hidden compartments beneath their coverings holding incense, handwritten prayers and genuine relics, while many details remain concealed from view, reflecting the private nature of belief itself. Much of what gives the work its meaning is intentionally unseen.

Film

Deities At The Bottom Of The Garden
Film by Know Media, Scunthorpe.

Looking back, Deities At The Bottom Of The Garden marked an important moment in my practice. It brought together repetition, research, craftsmanship and direct encounter in ways that continue to shape my work today. Rather than illustrating ideas, the work sought to discover them through the slow accumulation of observation, making and experience.

Standing amongst the twelve sheds, the viewer completes the installation. The circle is formed not by twelve objects alone, but by the presence of a thirteenth participant, invited not to adopt a particular belief, but simply to reflect upon humanity's enduring search for meaning and their own place within it.

The Sheds

Each work follows the same simple structure: a modest garden shed on the outside, an intimate place of worship within. The contrast between exterior and interior is central to the project.

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Archive Texts

The exhibition generated a number of responses from curators, critics and writers. Rather than replacing these contemporary texts with a retrospective interpretation, they are presented here as part of the exhibition archive.

Dominic Mason — Introduction
Originally published in the exhibition catalogue.

Helen Cocker — Critical Essay
Originally published in the exhibition catalogue.

Ian McMillan — The Holy Shrines Celebrated In Model Sheds
Originally published in The Yorkshire Post, 2012.

Catalogue

A fully illustrated catalogue accompanied the exhibition. Designed by The Designers Republic, Sheffield, it was conceived with the atmosphere of a contemporary religious text. The publication included essays by Richard Bartle, Dominic Mason and Helen Cocker. Contemporary responses to the exhibition, including Ian McMillan's article for The Yorkshire Post, are also reproduced here as part of the project archive.

Download the exhibition catalogue (PDF)

Acknowledgements

Object photography by Ken Grint.
Film by Know Media, Scunthorpe.
Catalogue design by The Designers Republic, Sheffield.