Salisbury Cathedral's Sarum Lights an 'emotional' show

This year's Sarum Lights are running under the theme of 'time', allowing visitors to experience immersion under bright colours and patterns in the sacred architecture of the Cathedral.

Created by art company Luxmuralis, the experience begins outside at the west front, before continuing in the interior with a a myriad of colours and patterns to walk around and enjoy.

Canon treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral Kenneth Padley said: "This is a sound and light show where there are kaleidoscopic exhibitions within the cloister area and cathedral itself. 

"That historic stuff and scientific stuff, from a church point of view, resonates with the belief which is fundamental to Christians and other major monotheistic faiths that God is the Lord of all time. We want to do it because it delves into some of the big theological themes that resonate with the cathedral’s values of liberty, creativity and eternity and we’ve got all of that with this exhibition.

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"But also the human side, why we do it. We are always meeting new people, we know some people come to this might not to otherwise come to the cathedral so it’s about about our wider message of openness and welcome."

@salisburyjournal Simply beautiful😍 #salisbury #foryou #foryoupage #fyp #winter ♬ original sound - xmas_nostagia

 

Crowds quickly gathered on the first night, November 5, to get the first look at this year's show.

Holly Danes, 17, returned after seeing the lights in previous years. She was visiting with Jack Wormgoor, 18, who has never been.

Holly Danes and Jack Wormgoor (Image: Spencer Mulholland Photography) Holly said: "I just love it. You can go in the Cathedral and see all the different colours."

Also visiting is family Michelle, Andrew and Charlotte Eyres from Wilton. 

Michelle described it as: "excellent", "we're loving it". She said they were trying to interpret each display themselves, and Charlotte said she thought it was "brilliant".

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Charlotte, Michelle and Andrew Eyres (Image: Spencer Mulholland Photography) Artistic director of Luxmuralis Peter Walker said: "It’s not an easy thing to explain, because you do have to feel it. I think its got a lot of emotion in the experience. It’s telling the story of how as humans we’ve presented ourselves through time.

"We never try and be descriptive. Some people walk through and try and find historical points, we find that these type of experiences, people get really emotional.

"People just have their own individual responses to it - we should never as artist say you have to feel something, it’s more about people indulging in it, walking through it, having the light wash over them and experiencing it that way."

Sarum Lights continues until November 9. You can buy tickets here.