#30: The Story Chapel

After many weeks of work, last weekend I attended Camp Bestival with the latest incarnation of my project, now called The Story Chapel. I wanted to construct a secular sacred space that people can use for a moment of rest and reflection. As in my previous interventions, the use of the archetype books would encourage people towards self reflection, but for this iteration I wanted to use a much more passive approach and give no direct instructions to the participant in order to relieve some of the pressure of forced introspection that had intimidated some of my previous participants. I also wanted to include elements of mindfulness and embodiment to cater not just for the ‘narrative self’ that exists in the past but to also balance it with the ‘present moment self’, as identified by Bessel Van Der Kolk in The Body Keeps The Score, which deals in the breath and the sensations of the body.

The Build

All the way through the building process I was doing battle with constant self doubt. A voice was telling me that my project was not ideal for the demographic at Camp Bestival, which is primarily young families, and I didn’t feel at any point that I even had a secure grasp on what exactly I was doing. But I resolved to push forward, I knew that festivals were where I would like to go with the project in the future and I was determined to use the opportunity to make an instinctive step in the direction I wanted to take.

I took a break from my usual research question: How can I help people to find meaning in order to improve their mental wellbeing?. And I decided to work with something a lot more specific:

How can I create a secular sacred space that uses storytelling to improve mental wellbeing?

After research into ecclesiastical architecture and the concept of ‘Soft Worldbuilding’, I began by constructing the frame of a small space out of Hazel poles that I gathered from Spinney Hollow. I knew that I wanted to use sustainably sourced or biodegradable natural materials wherever possible.

The basic components of the design were inspired by the concepts of ‘The Tower’ and ‘The Cave’. This was taken from a conversation I had with Professor Paul Richens, an architect from the University of Westminster, who described these archetypal symbols as being the basic features of cathedrals and sacred spaces. They are used to re-create the feeling of going inward (The Cave) on an inner journey into the underworld. This leads to the discovery of hidden knowledge which then moves the individual upward to a higher purpose (The Tower) where light and perspective can be found, echoing the experience of spiritual enlightenment.

I originally planned to create a circular space, reminiscent of the design of shamanistic huts, but I found that the space inside would be too cramped and not enjoyable to sit in. I eventually settled on a style based more on a medieval church design, with a small lancet shaped nave that led to a tower at the end. I knew that I had to restrict the size of the structure due to the limitations of transportation and the cost of materials. But I liked the way the space was big enough for only one person at a time, it gave it a ‘den-like’ feeling and would help the participant to find an inner connection.

I knew that stained glass would be an important feature of the chapel, the transcendent quality of the medium is synonymous with spirituality and the effect of coloured light can have a positive effect on the nervous system according to various studies such as this one:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24067320/

I had recently visited The Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona. I was particularly taken with the use of colour in the stained glass windows, the eastern side uses oranges, yellows and reds to compliment the rising sun, and the western side uses calmer blues and greens. Collecting colours together like this really gave a distinct feeling to each part of the space, together they formed a sort of narrative, the viewer travels from one state to another through the use of coloured light. I was inspired by this and sought to emulate it within my own stand glass design, the left side would be made of blues, greens and purple, and the right side would use oranges, yellows and red.

The windows featured a narrative that reflected an individual’s journey from mental distress towards wellbeing. Once they were completed and framed, I used a glass pen to add small details along with some text that explained the story.

The story is based upon the three main categories of archetypes that I originally took from Kim Krans’ collection: selves, places and tools. I also added elements of embodied mindfulness such as the observation of breath and meditative postures to bring the participant into the present moment. And I couldn’t help but finish the story with a self aware reference to Leonard Cohen’s lyric “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

So I installed the windows into the frame, packed it all up and took it to Camp Bestival.

The Festival

Despite my misgivings about the suitability of the project for Camp Bestival I was now determined to bring it along and set it up. I had no plan for any particularly focussed research, I thought that I would build the structure, place the archetype books inside it, make a sign to invite people in and just see what sort of behaviour it provoked in the participants.

I added material for a door and installed a tarpaulin on the inside of the structure to enclose the space and provide shade in order to allow the stained glass windows to really shine. I built a small wooden platform and laid down a cushion and a sheepskin to give the participants a comfortable place to sit. I also wanted to provide a feeling that they were stepping out of the regular world, what Mircea Eliade would refer to as “Profane Space”, and into a sacred space. This was the significant “Crossing of the threshold” (Joseph Campbell) that would hopefully guide the participant towards finding a state of introspection and peace. I built small shelves to house the archetype books and finally I added a Peace Lilly at the foot of the tower. It was important to me that there should be a living plant inside the space, not only does research suggest that they calm the sympathetic nervous system but the presence of a flowering plant acts as a living metaphor for the process of self discovery and enlightenment, turning towards the light.

https://affinityhealthcorp.com/how-indoor-plants-can-help-with-mental-and-emotional-health/

Discoveries

I have to say I was blown away by the the reaction that the chapel provoked. I was sat right next to it all day, working on a separate puppet making workshop I was conducting in order to help fund the project, and I could hear how people read the sign aloud to their children with curious excitement. There are a lot of small discoveries I made that will undoubtedly manifest as the next few months pass, but I have tried to summarise the key findings that are currently resonant:

• Beforehand, I was sure that children would not be interested in it, but I was fascinated to see a range of ages in the people exploring the chapel. I had conversations about it with adults, some as old as late fifties or early sixties. But some children as young as two also seemed to love sitting inside in the coloured light and looking through the books. I received a lot of feedback from parents talking about how it really calmed their children down, and they were very grateful for it being provided in such a stimulating environment.

• The way it made some parents interact with their children was very touching. They sat their young kids inside, while they stuck their head in and spoke to the children about the books and what they symbols and meanings were. Parents spoke to me about how this led to some really profound and important conversations with their kids about philosophical meanings, they told me it can be hard to find the right way to talk about such deep subjects so they were pleased the chapel allowed them to do this.
• Parents also told me who a great prompt the books were to spark their children’s imagination. The father of one five year old boy told me how his son picked up the archetype of The Book, and without trying to read it he recognised the symbol on the front cover and said “This is a book about books daddy”. I am fascinated by the fact that though just the use of a symbol a five year old was able to find the meaning within the archetype. There is some interesting potential there.

• I was sure that a peaceful place for reflection would not be welcome in a busy festival environment. But I was blown away by how much people enjoyed the peace of the space. Many young people seemed to instinctively recognise the sacred nature of the project and responded in kind. Some of them were moved to tidy the space up when other children had left it in a mess. One mother told me that whilst they were sitting inside the chapel, her five year old son turned to her and said “This is a special place mummy.”
• On the other hand, I did look inside to find it absolutely trashed a couple of times, the books lying in a pile, shredded pages all over the floor. But I am surprised this didn’t happen more considering it was at a children’s festival and it was left completely unattended.

• The stained glass windows were particularly powerful. When the sun was strong enough and coming from the right angle it threw coloured light out across the glass. It was very attractive and drew people in, it really gave the space a magical quality
• Some people mentioned their interest in having something like this built in their garden, which speaks of more potential future applications for the project.

The ‘Why’ of architecture

I managed to speak to an architect called Liam Russel, I recorded a conversation we had where he expressed his admiration for the chapel. We got to speaking about the nature of sacred spaces and the challenges that can arise when constructing a building that has no distinctive financial motivation. He said that these kind of spaces are vital: “There is a valuable craft involved with them, there’s a pageantry of craft, of space and light etc. We celebrate the very best of society in those moments, everything feels intensively developed and crafted. That is the problem of modern architecture – a lot of our components are made overseas, so much of what we do now has become systematised and reduced to predictable outcomes.” It was enlightening to learn about the challenges of modern architecture. The operation of Liam’s firm is inspired by the Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why, which puts the values of a business at the forefront of its mission. His firm take care to create buildings which have are sustainable and have a positive social impact. This really made me reflect on the importance of the ‘Why’ for my own project. Liam’s enthusiasm for the chapel was bolstering and he was keen to be contacted in the future.

A profound realisation

Perhaps most importantly for me, several people mentioned how they found themselves crying whilst sitting inside the chapel. Some had been feeling particularly delicate and were just moved to tears by the atmosphere of the space. One person came up to me visibly emotional, almost shaking, with a tear stained face and he was holding one of the archetype cards from the books. He thanked me profusely for creating the space and he wanted to know if he could keep the card he had chosen (The Jewel). I said of course and asked him what had moved him so much. He told me that he hadn’t seen his daughter in three years and he used to bring her to this festival, inside the chapel he just felt safe enough to cry about it. He later added that he hadn’t cried in ten years.

I was really moved by this, it was a profound revelation that it would be possible to move people to tears through just the right atmosphere and a few gentle prompts. This is an important discovery that could really lead to positive changes in the mental wellbeing of my participants. It proved to me that spaces like this are so important to have in our daily lives; a peaceful place that is calms the sympathetic nervous system and provides a space where people are connect to the feelings that they are carrying around with them. It is perhaps particularly potent within a festival environment, where people are in a heightened state, outside of their normal routine and open to the kind of revelation that has occurred historically in large ritualistic gatherings.

I am going to take a few days to reflect on where I should take the project next as I move into the final few months of the degree.