Stations of the King's Cross

This past Lent, an anonymous Catholic artist created a booklet called "Stations of the King's Cross" which featured a series of original paper-cut illustrations to encourage travellers on London's Central Line tube to meditate on the Stations of the Cross as they travel in either direction. 

Describing her project, the artist says:

Stations of the King’s Cross is a little illustrated prayer aid for following the way of the cross while traveling on the tube. Moving clockwise or anti-clockwise on the circle line,there’s one tube stop for each station, ending up at, appropriately, King’s Cross.They contain 14 beautiful illustrations, which have been created by intricately cutting single sheets of white paper.The booklets have been made & distributed by a young artist who has always found idle train trips a fruitful opportunity for prayer, been moved greatly by this profound devotion, and thought that other tube-travelers might appreciate this neat idea of combining the two. 

During Lent, copies of the booklet were left in the trains; travellers can now request a copy by visiting the artist's website. The booklets are free but donations to cover costs are welcome.

The striking paper-cut illustrations are to be sold by silent auction with all proceeds supporting three charities: Mary's Meals, The SVP and The Bard School. The images can be viewed (and bid on) on the Stations of  the King's Cross website. 

On Saturday 26th May an exhibition of the original artworks will open at St Mary’s, Eversholt Street (near King’s Cross Station.); this is the eve of Pentecost, which marks the end of the Easter Season. The exhibition will open with an evening prayer at 7pm, followed by refreshments, and an opportunity to view the artworks accompanied by live piano music. Free booklets will be available for people to take as they please, and everyone is welcome to the event. The exhibition will be open 9am – 8pm daily up to and including Monday 4th June.

So - if you're looking for an interesting present for somebody, whist supporting a good cause it may be worth checking this out.

For my part I'm just delighted to see orthodox Christian practice in the public square and think that it's important to support projects like this. I don't often travel by tube, and rarely take the Circle Line, but I have been told that the booklets were readily available on trains during Lent - and that can only be a Good Thing. What an exceptional example of evangelisation!