Overview

• The HEAR US project places stick-on, graffiti-style questions about faith on pillars, walls and floors, with prompts such as “Are you there?” and “Does everything have a soul?”.
• Created by poet Alex Vellis and curator Jacquiline Creswell from community workshops, the work highlights contributions from marginalised groups including Punjabi, Black and brown diaspora, neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ participants.
• The cathedral confirms the texts are transfers rather than paint, the installation formally opens on October 17, and it is scheduled to come down on January 18, before Archbishop-designate Sarah Mullally’s enthronement in March.
• Reaction has been sharply divided, with some visitors calling the display “sacrilegious” and comparing parts of the interior to “an underground car park in Peckham,” while others praised its impact.
• Criticism has escalated online, with US Vice President JD Vance denouncing the display as making a “beautiful” building “really ugly,” and figures such as Elon Musk also labeling it “shameful,” as the dean reiterates its bridge-building intent.