Art at St Barnabas

Devotional art has been a part of St Barnabas Bethnal Green since its reconstruction after WWII, from J Anthony Lewis’s reredos and Don Potter’s notable stonework, to Alice Sielle’s Stations of the Cross and Lorna May Wadsworth’s Blue Christ.

Lorna May Wadsworth, Blue Christ | St Barnabas Bethnal Green

Blue Christ
Lorna May Wadsworth
2022

“Sometimes I’m asked how it is we have a painting of a black Jesus, and over here a white Jesus on the cross, and we’ve got an Asian Christ … so where’s the consistency? The consistency is humanity, and the cross of Christ represents us all, universally, which is why we try to represent Christ across all of us, sending a message to our communities that we are all one in Christ.”
— Father Brian Ralph
“Alice Sielle’s Stations of the Cross draw me in, to seek out the path of justice and Love while following the footsteps of Christ around the walls of this small parish church in Bow, here in London’s East End.”
— Father Brian Ralph

Stations of the Cross
Alice Sielle
2004

John Salmon / St Barnabas, Grove Road, London E3 - Exterior cross / CC BY-SA 2.0

Four Evangelists
Don Potter
c 1957

John Salmon / St Barnabas, Grove Road, London E3
Exterior cross / CC BY-SA 2.0

Font
Don Potter
c 1957

  • We installed Lorna May Wadsworth’s Blue Christ tondo in 2023 as a memorial to Rev Prebendary David Paton, who was priest-in-charge of St Barnabas from 1992 to 1996

  • The Blue Christ was shown in 2021 in the exhibition Global Images of Christ: Challenging Perceptions at Chester Cathedral

  • You’ll find the book of Alice Sielle’s Stations of the Cross, with a foreword by Fr Brian Ralph, at Art + Christianity