Explaination Light is the key to understanding the visual imagery of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart. In this holographic artwork, the light associated with the Sacred Heart is the subject of the visual representation. To appreciate the holographic shrine it is necessary to understand the significance of light in the traditional representation of the Sacred Heart. In previous representations of the Sacred Heart, light comes from the flame and cross which together mark the wound to the Heart. Also the body of Christ is surrounded by another light, the golden sphere called the aureole. The holographic images are of the flame and cross and of the aureole. Representations of the Sacred Heart are all to an extent based on the 17 th century visions of Saint Margaret Mary. The following extracts from the autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary are of three of her visions of the Sacred Heart. The essential property of each of these vision is the association of the presence of the Sacred Heart and light. The invisible presence of the SacredHeart is intimated in the holograms by representing the light of these visions. The hologram is not a representation- it is a simulation By using the spatial properties of the virtual holographic image the viewer experiences a simulation of these three visions. "On one day of the Ascension, as we went to choir, to honour the moment when Our Lord ascended into Heaven, being before the Blessed Sacrament, I found myself in a great peace which produced at once, a bright light which enclosed in itself my Amiable Jesus."   "He then asked me for my heart, which I begged him to take. He did so, placing it in his own adorable Heart, where He showed it to me as a tiny atom, which was consumed in this burning furnace; and withdrawing it from thence, as a burning flame in the form of a heart, He restored it to the place whence He had taken it." "This Sacred Heart was represented to me as a sun, shining with a dazzling light, the burning rays of which fell directly upon my heart, which felt itself inflamed from the first with a fire so ardent that it seemed as if it would reduce me to ashes." In looking into the hologram, the flame and the cross are very near the observers own body. Remembering that the Heart is at the centre of the Body, it suggests a close personal relationship with Christ. Close personal contact with The Heart is a legacy of the 17th century visions of Saint Margaret Mary. The hemisphere, which represents the aureole, is itself illuminated from above by five rays of light. The invisible, imagined origin of these five converging rays is the five wounds of the risen Christ. So it appears as if the Body of Christ hovers above the hemisphere. The Transfiguration suggests the aspirational aspect of Divine Love.The holographic images of light-the flame and the mandorla-can be seen because they are illuminated by a real light-the laser light shining through the holographic plate onto the viewers chest. The laser light originates from the central point of the virtual hemisphere and bathes chest and praying hands in golden light. This light suggests the all encompassing Holy Spirit. In this way, the location, direction and orientation of light sources within the hologram is used to suggest the Trinitarian states. The simulation of the holographic image employs the metaphor of the Church as the body of Christ both by using parts of the existing church as elements of the model and by altering the orientation and translation of spatial elements of the Church. The elaborate relief casting on the surface of the inverted dome replicates decorative motifs of the marble sanctuary. The model for the hologram was made by casting sections of the marble work form the sanctuary of St Brigid's. These relief patterns were attached to the surface of two diamond shaped blanks which were replicated and built into a dome. The simulation of spatial elements from the sanctuary area engages the viewer in an experience of altered translation and orientation.The cross in the hologram can be seen on the marble altar. What was above in the Church has become below the viewer in the holographic image and what was most distant from the viewer becomes closest. < Back to Public Commissions