42 photographs representing all 42 cathedrals of the Church of England by Magnum photographer Peter Marlow (1952 – 2016) are to be exhibited in The Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral. This is only the second time this work has been displayed in one of the spaces featured in the series and the first time the project has been exhibited in this region of the UK.
In 2008, Marlow was commissioned by Royal Mail, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the completion of St Paul’s Cathedral, to photograph six cathedrals. The resulting images of Lichfield, Belfast, Gloucester, St David's, Westminster, and St Magnus in Orkney were issued as a set of six commemorative stamps and a miniature sheet. Once the commission was complete, Marlow was inspired to continue the project and in the following four years shot all 42 of the cathedrals of the Church of England. This endeavor can be viewed as a contemporary update to tradition of church photography in England, particularly the work of Frederick Evans and Edwin Smith. Marlow’s photographic typology of England’s Anglican cathedrals was published in a monograph by Merrell in 2012.
