Paul Benney has created a remastered version of his video work series Reliquary, originally published on Sedition exclusively in 2019. Using the latest in visual effects, the new work showcases extensive details.

The Reliquary series focuses on the visual language and spiritual significance of fire. Combining animation with painting, physical and digital methods, to communicate the ephemerality of flames and fire.

It emphasises the metaphor of the flame as animation and a representation of the human spirit. The series of progressively spent candles represent the different stages of life and reflect life’s transitory, fleeting and mysterious qualities.

An added paradox comes from the impossibility of a flame staying alight in an airless bell jar; these animated digital/painted hybrids only deepen the mystery of what we mean by the concept of a meditation on the corporeal dialogue between body and soul.