Fratton’s Festival of Light and Once a Sea (Art Installation)

Part of We Shine Portsmouth

Fratton Together once again invites the local community to join in with its Festival of Light, the tenth iteration of this annual event designed to gather us together and push away the darkness.

The event starts on Friday 22nd November our Lantern Parade – starting at the Victory Business Centre (Somers Road North, PO1 1PJ) at 7.00pm and making its way towards St Mary’s Churchyard.

As well as the shining lights from the lanterns which have been hand-crafted in local workshops over previous weeks, we will also be led by the energizing Batala Samba Band, who will also play in the Churchyard at 8pm.

From Thursday 21st (until Saturday 23rd) In the churchyard there will be a series of light installations, activities, and refreshments as part of We Shine.

Inside the church, following on from the success of exhibitions like the Moon, and the Sun, the light installation Once A Sea will be set up, remaining there from Thursday 21st – Wednesday 27th November.

Once A Sea is a large scale sound, light, and projection installation created specifically for St Mary’s Church by Portsmouth based artists Heinrich & Palmer, the multi-media artist partnership who previously brought the Ship of Gods to St Mary’s Church.

This installation was created specifically for St Mary’s Church, its title referring to the time over 35 million years ago when Portsmouth was covered by sea, and the older fossilized marine life that now makes up the chalk and flint cliffs of Portsdown Hill was thriving in a deep ocean – it is these flints were later used to build the exterior walls of St Mary's Church.

'Once a Sea' combines archival imagery, high-speed film, microscopy and 3D laser scans of the Church to take the viewer on an immersive journey through time.

You can watch this fascinating projection transform the interior of St Mary’s Church from 5pm-9pm on the 21st-23rd November and 4.30-9.00pm (with nightly performances and activities from 6.30pm-7.15pm, including live music (Sun, Tue), Yoga ‘By the Sea’ (Mon), and dancing (Wed)) on the 24th-27th November.

Entry to these are all free, but you need to book via Eventbrite for the Yoga Session.

Father Bob White, vicar of St Mary’s and Chair of Fratton Together, said

‘We are looking forward to welcoming people to come and celebrate our local community and the beauty of St Mary’s Church.

The Lantern Parade has become an important annual community celebration seeking to bring light in our community life.

It has been a special privilege this year, with thanks to the Arts Council Grant, to be able to work alongside Heinrich and Palmer in developing this new installation.amaamanHarbour

The artists Anna Heinrich and Leon Palmer said:

“We are thrilled to be working with St Mary’s Church and Fratton Together again to develop this new work for St Mary’s, inspired by our home city.

We have spent the last year developing the work drawing on conversations with the local community, archival imagery and our research into the area’s history and geological past.

The University of Portsmouth has been very supportive providing technical assistance and advice, enabling us to explore some fascinating imaging techniques.

We are very much looking forward to being part of the community of artists that are presenting their work at this year’s We Shine festival.”

Artists website: https://heinrichpalmer.co.uk

To find out more about this installation and many others happening across the city visit https://weshineportsmouth.co.uk

Revd Canon Bob White

Vicar of St Mary’s Portsea and Acting Archdeacon of Portsdown