'To be Free' Exhibition and workshops

What it Means to be Free’

TAS Wessex Area were willing to support the latest exhibition and art workshops at Salisbury Cathedral this year as the theme of freedom and ‘What it means to be free’ resonated with our desire to fund an event that would reach out to both adults and children on contemporary issues.

Salisbury Cathedral have an extensive and comprehensive series of workshops for local schools and so we were able to help support the new exhibition and also support arts education at the sametime.

What does it mean to be free? 

The latest contemporary art exhibition at Salisbury Cathedral this summer explores human rights and freedoms.

The exhibition includes works by internationally renowned artists, including Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, Cornelia Parker CBE, Jeffrey Gibson, Ai Weiwei, Mona Hatoum and Lucy Jones.

Salisbury Cathedral is home to the best-preserved remaining Magna Carta, on display in the Chapter House. This important historical document speaks of freedom, stating that all people have the right to justice and a fair trial, dissolving the absolute power of the monarchy.

Looking through the lens of contemporary art, this exhibition focuses on five facets of freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of expression, freedom of movement and freedom from fear.

A centrepiece of the exhibition is Cornelia Parker’s Magna Carta (An Embroidery), a 13-metre-long embroidery installation depicting the Magna Carta Wikipedia pages, sewn by civil rights campaigners, MPs, lawyers, barons, artists and prison inmates. This huge piece is the perfect complement to the Cathedral’s rare 1215 Magna Carta.

Another astonishing work is Yinka Shonibare’s Justice for All. The sculpture was exhibited for the first time in the UK during the summer of 2020, in response to the tragic killing of George Floyd. The towering figure is a reimagining of F.W. Pomeroy’s Lady Justice, a statue which stands above the dome of The Old Bailey.

To Be Free: Art and Liberty can be viewed at Salisbury Cathedral from 15 May – 17 September 2023.

As well as access to the exhibition and the amazing work on display there are a series of ceramic workshops which ties in with the summer art exhibition – To Be Free: Art and Liberty.

Currently there has been at least one school group a week visiting the education team. This varies from about 30-90 children. Each does a tour of the cathedral floor and exhibition and then takes part in a workshop. The exhibition themes and discussion points work particularly well in the Magna Carta themed workshop, discussing ethics, freedom and the cathedral’s move from Old Sarum.

Art and crafts are a big part of many of the workshops the education team do, and primary school pupils respond to the exhibition by making their own mixed media work.

Secondary school art pupils discuss what techniques has the artist used, what the artist is saying in their work and get a specific art tour. They have the choice of engaging with the art through sketching, mixed media and photography.

Children are invited to think about the question ‘what does freedom mean to you?’, and then get creative and make a clay hand which holds their own symbol of freedom.

Younger visitors to the Cathedral can also explore the art exhibition and the grounds with the ‘Free as a Bird’ trail. Spot birds hidden around the Cathedral and in the new art exhibition, and listen for the sounds of birds who make our Cathedral their home.

We are pleased to support these art activities as it engages young people with important contexts and issues. We felt that it was important for young children to have access to such important pieces of work and then imagine what they would do on a similar theme and then put those ideas into practice.