14 STATIONS OF THE CROSS EXHIBITION (2018)

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This was a BIG one! In addition to our Good Friday service, we invited the church to participate in a spiritual pilgrimage of sorts. We designed and created a walk and experience through the 14 Stations of the Cross. The goal of these interactive stations was to immerse the participant in an artistic experience that contemplated the Passion of Christ, from the Garden of Gethsemane to the tomb. The “14 Stations” exhibit was open from 5pm-9pm on Good Friday, March 30th and consisted of:

(1) Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:36-41)
(2) Jesus is betrayed by Judas, is arrested (Mark 14:43-46)
(3) Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin (Luke 22:66-71)
(4) Jesus is denied by Peter (Matt 26:69-75)
(5) Jesus is judged by Pilate (Mark 15:1-5, 15)
(6) Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns (John 19:1-3)
(7) Jesus bears the cross (John 19:6, 15-17)
(8) Jesus is helped by Simon the Cyrenian to carry the cross (Mark 15:21)
(9) Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem (Luke 23:27-31)
(10) Jesus is crucified (Luke 23:33-34)
(11) Jesus promises his kingdom to the repentant thief (Luke 23:39-43)
(12) Jesus speaks to his mother and the disciple (John 19:25-27)
(13) Jesus dies on the cross (Luke 23:44-46)
(14) Jesus is placed in the tomb (Matt 27:57-60)

We knew we needed help on this one so we reached out to our good pal, Mat Barber Kennedy to see if he’d be interested in art directing it for us. He was. And he did! It was awesome. (p.s. Mat is the best. He and I work on various exhibitions together.)

Mat not only helped us ideate what each station could look like, but he also created original drawings and icons representing each station. Here’s what each station’s icon looked like as well as each station’s instructions for the participant :

Our team wrote and created a Prayer Guide to accompany the participants on their pilgrimage. As people came into the space, they were asked to grab one, as well as one white glove per person with the instructions that the glove was to be worn throughout the walk to help them witness the polluting effects of sin and the hope the cross of Jesus provides. This is what our prayer guide looked like:

It was a powerful and meaningful night - from stamping our names with the word guilty, but coming to the cross to nail our dirtied gloves and leave them behind, trampling on the name of Jesus to sitting in an empty room with nothing but the words it is finished. We hope to do this one again.