Philippa Jones

Out of Time 2021
Multi-media installation / Installation multimédia
Site 16 – Alexander Mortuary Chapel of All Souls, Bonavista

Out of Time is a site-specific commission created by Philippa Jones for the Alexander Mortuary Chapel of All Souls. Beautifully restored by local business Bonavista Living, it is one of only two remaining mortuary chapels in the province. Energized as an ethereal space of contemplation by Jones’ installation, the Gothic-style chapel is filled with the sublime force of nature, crystalized and once removed by the permanence of plastic. Floating orbs holding fragments of flowers and other flora, effectively suspended between life and death, cascade down from the chapel’s hammerbeam ceiling into a seemingly deep pool of water. The jewel-like globes of resin floating in air catch light refracting the sun’s rays coming through the chapel windows; several bob enticingly in the water above a source of light emanating from the depths of the pool. Are the orbs on the precipice of bursting with life? Or, perhaps deterioration into death? At the altar end of the chapel a long exquisitely-detailed screen print and drawing unfurls, providing a counterpoint to the small-time capsules resisting the natural forces of time. 

Both spectacle and impetus for introspection, Jones’ work balances seemingly paradoxical effects, wrapping the viewer in transcendent sublime forces. Death, often sanitized and removed from nature, is wondrously reconciled in the artist’s hands. 

MH