Dr. Lavinia Byrne’s background is in religion. As a former Roman Catholic nun, she has had ample opportunity to study the effects of religious belief on the development of culture and art. She has travelled extensively and written some 20 books. An internet columnist for Catholic weekly The Tablet and book reviewer for the Anglican Church Times, she has also broadcast with BBC Radio 4 as a religious commentator. A modern language graduate, she taught at Heythrop College, London and at Westcott House, Cambridge where she was tutor and lectured in spirituality and communications. At present she is chaplain to the Mayor of Wells, Somerset, where she lives.
In her talk, Dr. Byrne will ask if art is the friend or enemy of religion. What about spirituality? Can it be expressed in three dimensions or even – in the case of the internet – in two? What about orthodoxy? How does art, especially public art, handle dissent?