From Purgatory to Paradise

ali kayley

Ali Kayley’s recent work has focused on the journeys taken by people, animals and  spirits.  

For this exhibition she has traced the route between two mythical places: Purgatory and  Paradise. But the route she has followed is far from mythical, it is a journey of six miles  between two real locations on the map. Purgatory is a small, untended copse of trees and  brambles on top of Swift’s Hill just outside Stroud in Gloucestershire, Paradise is a tiny hamlet in meadows in the valley beyond Painswick in Gloucestershire. 

In 2013 Ali Kayley led a group of walkers through the countryside from Purgatory to  Paradise. Their route became the line on the maps in this exhibition.

The large square drawings are studies of the brambles and thickets that she found in the  small copse called Purgatory. The words, letterpress printed over the charcoal drawings, are taken from 16th century indulgences and literature as well as original poetry.  Indulgences were certificates sold by the church in the Middle Ages offering absolution  from sin. In return, the buyer would be allowed to pass through purgatory after death. 

A further series of watercolour paintings depict the contours of either Paradise or  Purgatory and can be hung side by side as a complementary diptych. 

Ali Kayley was born in Manchester and studied fine art at Goldsmiths College, London  and anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Her work has  been widely exhibited in the UK and the US. She lives near Stroud, Gloucestershire, the  inspiration for this work.