The Art of Belonging: How Es Devlin Turned Portraiture into a Living Civic Artwork

In the baroque calm of St Mary le Strand, an 18th-century church stranded amid the velocity of central London, artist and stage designer Es Devlin created an artwork that refused spectacle and demanded attention. Congregation was not simply an art installation - it was an act of collective seeing, using art as a tool to confront displacement, empathy, and the politics of visibility in a global city.

Over six days in October 2024, Devlin drew monumental charcoal portraits of 50 displaced Londoners - refugees and migrants from Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and beyond. What emerged was not a conventional exhibition, but a living artwork of shared presence, where art functioned as architecture for human connection.

Art as Encounter, Not Object

Rather than filling the nave with objects, Devlin emptied it. Pews were removed, replaced by a circular open floor that allowed only 50 visitors at a time to enter the space. Inside, art unfolded slowly. Portraits were drawn live, each sitter observed in silence for 45 minutes before stories were exchanged and scaled onto paper in chalk and charcoal.

Here, art was not something to pass by. It was something to sit with.

Each portrait was surrounded by animated projections of symbolic "gifts" co-created with the sitters - imagined offerings representing what they contribute to London: labour, care, memory, resilience, culture. These visual metaphors glowed against the church walls, accompanied by a soundscape that fused recomposed Vivaldi by Max Richter, choral textures, and poetry by refugee writer JJ Bola.

The result was immersive art that felt devotional without being religious - a secular ritual of attention, echoing the immersive quality of the most interesting experiential installations.

From Spectacle Art to Human-Scale Truth

Devlin is known globally for monumental, technologically ambitious works - immersive stages for Beyoncé, U2, and Adele, large-scale installations for Louis Vuitton, and narrative environments for the Olympic Games. Her art has often operated at the scale of crowds and global events, demonstrating the power of visual storytelling in luxury and cultural contexts.

Congregation represents a deliberate shift. Instead of building worlds, Devlin builds encounters. Instead of light, she uses charcoal. Instead of movement, stillness. The artwork locates power not in technology or scale, but in sustained human attention.

In doing so, Devlin reclaims portraiture as a contemporary art practice with political force.

Portraiture as Radical Art Practice

Historically, portraiture has been the art of power - commissioned by monarchs, elites, and institutions. In Congregation, that hierarchy is inverted. Refugees, so often reduced to data points or distant images, are granted scale, dignity, and artistic centrality.

Each sitter looks outward, having already been seen deeply by the artist. The visitor does not consume the image anonymously; they enter into a reciprocal act of recognition. This is art that insists on responsibility, much like the most powerful sculptural works that demand viewer engagement and reflection.

In this sense, Congregation aligns with the idea of "social sculpture" - art made not only of materials, but of relationships, listening, and mutual acknowledgement.

A Historic Space Rewritten by Art

The choice of St Mary le Strand adds another layer to the artwork. Built in 1723, the church once symbolised religious authority and exclusion. Devlin reprogrammed it through art. The altar became a quiet focal point. Hierarchy dissolved. Worship was replaced by witness.

Evening choral performances spilled into the street, reframing the church as a civic space rather than a doctrinal one. The building itself became part of the artwork - a historical palimpsest holding stories of exile, belief, and belonging across centuries in one of London's most historically significant locations.

Why This Art Matters Now

Congregation arrives in a moment of global moral imbalance. It does not offer slogans or solutions. Instead, it uses art to ask difficult questions: Why does empathy feel selective? Why are some displaced lives easier to recognise than others? Why do certain faces feel "closer" to us?

Devlin does not instruct. She creates conditions. Through art, she slows the viewer down enough to notice their own biases. This approach to creating meaningful cultural experiences parallels thoughtful visual communication strategies that prioritize depth over spectacle.

Art as a Rehearsal for Society

For Es Devlin, Congregation is not an endpoint, but a rehearsal - an artwork that models a different social behaviour. One where visibility is shared, dignity is assumed, and belonging is practiced rather than granted.

As London continues to absorb new histories and identities, Congregation stands as a quietly radical reminder of what art can do when it moves beyond representation and becomes infrastructure for empathy. It joins the ranks of significant cultural events and exhibitions that reshape how we understand art's role in society.

In Devlin's hands, art does not merely reflect the world. It constructs it - one face, one story, one moment of attention at a time.