St Augustine’s

The commission of a Baptismal Font, Altar and a Reliquary as part of the re-ordering of St Augustine’s RC Church in Hammersmith, London represents a continuation of Stair’s work celebrating the dynamics of use in a social context, and also a return to the monumental form, earlier realised in his widely acclaimed national touring exhibition Quietus: the vessel, death and the human body.

The RIBA award-winning refurbishment of the church was undertaken by The Order of St Augustine as the first phase in redeveloping its headquarters in Hammersmith. Fr Gianni Notarianni, parish priest and artist, commissioned the architect Roz Barr together with Julian Stair and John Morgan to transform the building. Stair’s altar now sits below a large cast iron circular light fitting surrounded by a hand-painted fresco incorporating gold leaf on the rear wall of the altar.

Initial discussions with Father Gianni Notarianni centred on the making of a Font (Father Gianni had seen Quietus in which the Monumental Jars had particularly struck him). Design and production of a Font presented the opportunity to create an object with a unique purpose, a vessel linked to the beginning of the human life cycle. As discussions evolved the commission broadened to include the making of an Altar, site of the central sacrament of the Church but also a potent metaphor for one of the most essential social interactions, the supper table and its rituals. The Altar of St Augustine’s Church hosts the relics of two martyrs, and the commission for this Reliquary marks the culmination of Julian Stair’s work in making vessels for the containment of the human body in death.

The Altar and Reliquary was blessed by Cardinal Vincent Nichols on 4 February, 2018.