Stained glass in places of worship can be mesmerising – the colour and the imagery. I didn’t think this at boarding school, a captive in chapel several times a week, two services on Sunday. I would sneak in the sports pages of the Sunday Mail to read and long for the day I’d be free of it all. I’m glad I can appreciate it not just from an aesthetic point of view but also the storytelling, and the motivation of the telling. I choose to see this painting as part of the evolution of rock paintings and religion, with introduction of colour. It’s not a clear story that it tells, thankfully. Also, thankfully, it is not pious or terrifying, or claiming to know an absolute truth. To me it being abstract gives a both complex and simple, and honest representation of grappling with the meaning of life.
