Kintsugi is the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with a lacquer dusted with precious metals, such as gold or silver. Rather than hiding the joins, Kintsugi highlights them and makes the pottery more valuable by virtue of the fact it has been broken. As a practice, Kintsugi teaches us that repair is part of our history. In this exhibition, you see portraits of people who have visible scar tissue from either accidents or surgery. That scar tissue has been overlaid in gold leaf.

The Kintsugi People project was devised by Dr Carol Holliday, psychotherapist, and lecturer at the University of Cambridge (now retired) and produced in collaboration with photographer Ryan Davies and the Arts team at Cambridge University Hospitals. Through her 30 years of clinical practice, Carol found that people often used metaphors of brokenness, fragmentation, splits or cracks to express distress or describe traumatic events. Finding a poetic relationship between this language and the art of repair, Carol was inspired to create the Kintsugi People project as a positive representation of how we can heal and learn to embrace our own histories, both inside and out.

ArtsFest is about performance, participation and hospitality – a time to celebrate the wonder of life. It is also a time, for some, to grieve. This art exhibition is the work of three members of St Paul’s: Mark Rigby, who lost his wife, Rachel, a short while ago; Martin Evans, whose daughter, Jenny, died just over a year ago; and Kip Gresham, who died in May 2024.

Take time to view the work of these St Paul’s artists in the Foyer and reflect on the reality that life presents us with both a time to celebrate and a time to mourn.

St Paul’s Community Art Exhibition celebrates the amazing talent of artists in our local community and neighbourhood. It will show over thirty selected works on the theme of seasons, whether in nature or in life. They will be displayed on St Paul’s new Exhibition Wall in the Lower Hall.

With the world in much turmoil this green entrance space provides a peaceful ambiance for quiet reflection. It invites you to wind down while watching the gentle movements of paper birds made by members of the congregation out of recycled liturgies. Enjoy a moment of peace to collect your thoughts before moving on to the workshops, performances and other exhibitions.

Hospitality is at the heart of St Paul's and of the ArtsFest. Our inviting café space will be open every day offering tea, coffee, soft drinks, cakes, biscuits, fruit and cheese scones. Between 12 - 2pm, lunch will be served including soup and a variety of sandwiches. Come and drop in between workshops or around viewing the art exhibitions. A chance to meet others and enjoy delicious homemade food in an artistically rich space.

Lower Hall

Come and get creative in the ArtsFest Café! There will be an area set aside for gentle crafting activities every day of the festival and suitable for all. Everything from mindful colouring to collage and textiles.

Lower Hall