An artist and a theologian bring the reality of the English rural landscape into new light – what can images (especially photographic ones) and ideas of pilgrimage, sanctuary, and lived faith bring to our inherited pastoral visions of churches and green fields?
Dr Sheona Beaumont is an artist and scholar who specialises in theology and the arts, particularly photography. Her research focusses on theologies of visual realism and imagination, drawing on Christian traditions of art making and interpreting as well fine art & photography theory, media studies, and contemporary visual culture. She is currently Artist in Residence for the Athelstan Pilgrim Way and Visiting Research Fellow at Kings College London, and her most recent book, The Bible in Photography: Index, Icon, Tableau, Vision, was published with Bloomsbury in 2024.
Dr Andrew Rumsey is an author, musician and Bishop of Ramsbury in the Diocese of Salisbury. His creative writing and academic research specialises in themes of place, heritage and landscape. Andrew is the author of English Grounds: A Pastoral Journal (SCM Press, 2021). He is also the national co-lead for church buildings and cathedrals for the Church of England, a role that finds him an enthusiastic champion for the place of built heritage in the church’s life.
Organised by Dr Caroline Levitt (The Courtauld) and Professor Ben Quash (KCL), as part of the seminar on Sacred Traditions and the Arts, a joint venture between the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s and The Courtauld. It seeks to place researchers in dialogue who are working on any aspect of the sacred and visual culture. It is open to all scholars and students who have an interest in exploring the intersections of religion and art regardless of period, geography or tradition.
