Skip to main content
Anna Lucas, San Cristobal, 2007. Installation view at FACT.

San Cristobal (2007)

San Cristobal translates as St Christopher, the patron saint of travellers, in Catalan. Lucas filmed this work in Super8 in 1992, from her apartment window in Barcelona, where she lived as a student. It is her earliest experiment with film, and captures the activity of people passing St Christopher's Chapel on one day each year, to be blessed by a priest for safe onward travel for the rest of the year.

The constant repetition of movement, including a priest cleansing the way for travellers with holy water and a group of women exchanging lucky heather in return for a donation, is mirrored by the continual loop of the work, giving it a perpetual life of its own.

The piece also relates to other works in the exhibition, where ideas of travel, exchange, faith and belief are among the primary concerns of Lucas' enquiry.

Artists