Two Tate Exhibitions and Two:23

One of the locations which I find to act like a thin place for me is the Tate Modern. As I wander round the space I find myself encountering the spiritual in a way I don't in many other places. When life is tough and I really need to encounter the divine I find myself heading in that direction. I also find it useful that it is within a stones throw of where Two:23 meets and so I am able to combine the different forms of worship and reflection every so often individually refilling before I go and join in corporate worship. This spiritual aspect is one reason I find maintaining Tatemembership so important......it enables me to go and fully enjoy what the gallery has to offer whilst I encounter the divine through art and space.

Recently I headed to the gallery to reflect and refill. I knew the Marlene Dumas exhibition The Image as Burden had started (it's on until May 10th) but I didn't know the Conflict Time Photography exhibition was on the same floor. Both are worth a visit.

The Conflict Time Photography exhibition is on until 15th March. It covers 12 rooms and contains work from Don McCullin, Simon Norfolk, Jo Racliffe, Pierre Antony-Thouret, Michael Schmidt, Harry Shrunk and Janos Kender, Stephen Shore and Chloe Dewe Matthews amongst others. It takes as it's theme Kurt Vonnegut Jr's Slaughterhouse-Five which is a book which seeks to look forward after war rather than looking back.

As you move around the exhibition which starts by looking at "Moments Later" you are taken around the world from the Crimea to Libya, America to Bosnia and France to Congo amongst other conflicts.

I was found the pictures of America after the American Civil War particularly interesting and the pictures from Congo most moving. The former reflected location and the latter people and this mix of geographical and physical is reflected throughout the exhibition.

One of the most striking elements of this exhibition is the Archive of Modern Conflict installation A Guide For The Protection Of The Public In Peace Time. This takes you into what essentially feels like a 1940's living room but is a space containing collages and objects from or reflecting conflicts around the world. It is thought provoking and striking.

The images show reflect horror, hope, rebuilding and resignation amongst them. They are striking and I would challenge anybody to wander round unmoved by what the exhibition shows and that is the point.

From this I moved across the third floor on to the Dumas exhibition which focuses on the body primarily. There are 14 rooms to move around, some of which are explicit and shocking. There are glimmers of hope as with the collages of black faces which are seeking to focus on the humanity of people whose bodies were the focus of the pictures which were the base for this piece. However, much of the exhibition feels dark and disturbing with it's roots in pornography. There is a tension which she acknowledges in her work between to show or not to show.

There were two paintings which were amongst the most striking to me which did not fit in with much of the rest of the exhibition and these were Solo which is based upon the crucifixion but according to the accompanying blurb moves beyond this to reflect the feelings of isolation which is felt by those who are sent by their fathers to war and death. It is a moving crucifixion which reflects the isolation which Jesus experienced on the cross. The second picture which struck me was The Wall which shows Orthodox Jews near the partition wall. It depicts them in a similar way as to if they were at the wailing wall which I found interesting.

The article accompanying this exhibition in this spring's Tate Etc magazine explains this is the most significant exhibition of her work to be held in Europe and moves from her early paintings to her most recent work on paper.

Again this an exhibition I would challenge anybody to go round without reacting to as it is striking and is one of those shows which demands some response.

After these experiences I moved up to the members room and sat reflecting with a pot of Earl Grey looking out over the river Thames and on to St. Pauls which dominates the view. I find it to be a relaxed but busy space where you can sit and meditate even though you are surrounded by a constant buzz.

From the gallery I moved on to Two:23 which continues to grow. After a vibrant and refreshing time of musical worship I listened to Greenbelt favourite and vicar of St. Luke's Holloway Dave Tomlinson talk, (now available online) of the way in which we make a mistake of trying to find God because he is everywhere around us and we are always in his presence. We have not lost the divine and (s)he has certainly not lost us according to Tomlinson whose talk was primarily based around reading extracts from his latest book The Bad Christian's Manifesto. As I listened to this I smiled and wondered. Whilst it may be true we do not have to search for God and neither we or (s)he is lost yet it is also true there are places where we are more aware of being in the presence of the divine. For me, as I've indicated, the Tate Modern is one of those spaces, somewhere where even when I am really struggling I can connect with that which is beyond me. God may not actually be any nearer to me there than elsewhere but I am certainly more aware of the presence of the divine there.

As a final aside on that occassion I took a different route to the gallery, and wandered up from Borough tube station. I found a cafe at the back of the gallery in Great Guildford Street called RoseTate where I was able to get a really tasty ham and cheese roll, a slice of cake and can of coke for under £4. As somebody who prefers plain food and so struggles in with the posh dishes that the Tate tends to offer this was a real find. Physical and soul food are both needed to replenish us and I was so pleased to benefit from both today.