"SANCTUMS"
Last summer, on a tour of Ireland’s megalithic tombs, I discovered the beauty of an ancient art of carving symbols—called petroglyphs—into stone. For centuries, myths and legends have celebrated their power, but I was intrigued by the recent revelation that these ancient cairns, standing stones, and stone circles may be the oldest astronomical observatories in the world, predating Stonehenge and the Egyptian Pyramids.
Many passage graves of the Neolithic and Mesolithic age were constructed to allow beams of sun or moon light to pass through small openings at the entrances of the tombs at certain times of the year. The light that traveled through a narrow passage illuminated symbols carved into a stone— or a succession of stones—and recorded the exact time of year.
Light projected on these stones told the story of how the celestial bodies moved though the sky. They were the first calendars— narratives of solar and lunar events that began to shape the lives of these early cultures. By observing the play of light on the stone markings, they could predict the seasons and plant crops which gave them the opportunity to stay in one place and build communities.
After completing a series of paintings that celebrated these sacred sites, I began to notice spaces that have become sanctuaries in modern life. Places where people find refuge and gather in the intimacy of light and shadow to see a story unfold. The cinema seemed a good place to start.
Judith Quain