Pondering Gaia Artwork by Luke Jerram

If you are in Melbourne, Australia, it’s worthwhile making a visit to St Paul’s Cathedral, especially to see Luke Jerram’s Gaia, art installation (pictured). You can’t miss it. The revolving globe (it rotates once every four minutes) is suspended up the front of the church and it attracts lots of attention from visitors who gaze at it from the pews or lie down on the floor to marvel or take a photo.

When I saw it, I thought of the words of the Psalm writer who exclaimed:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

    the moon and the stars that you have established;

what are humans that you are mindful of them,

    mortals that you care for them?

(Psalm 8: 3-4, Hebrew Bible)

These words remind us that humans have been looking up at the moon and the stars for centuries but Luke Jerram says that its only in the last fifty years that we have been able to see our planet earth, thanks mainly to astronauts.

Leaving the busyness of Swanston Street and entering the dark of the cathedral, there is a stillness. People seem captivated by our planet. Some are brought to tears. Some find it awe-inspiring. It can make you feel small.

Luke Jerram expressed his wishes:

“I’m hoping that when people see this earth artwork they’ll realise the beauty and fragility of our planet, that it’s actually our only home and that we have to look after it.”

After gazing at the globe making some revolutions, a woman remarked:

“All life is connected on this planet and everything I do is in one way or another going to affect someone else or some other creature that I share this planet with.”

Drop in and spend enough time, not only to watch the planet spinning around but to listen to its call.

Geoff Pound

geoffpound@gmail.com