Entering Chichester Cathedral from the western door, one is confronted by an irregular shaped, polished black portal standing central to the nave on its flag-stone floor. Appearing as an absence of space and matter within the fabric of the cathedral, this phenomenon holds your reflection as you approach. Walking past the reflective portal reveals its dense black surface; parallel grooves and ridges running along its length as if having been extruded. Contrasting with the flat polished western end, the eastern end is a cave-like void, a craggy cast of a boulder which is now absent. This is the shadow of an ancient rock, cast by the rising sun on the equinox.

Made from dense black matter this uncanny, rough textured object, has a significant human presence because of its associative height and width and the ability to see oneself reflected in the flat polished western surface. It references time: deep geological time, celestial time and human time. Consequently, it also speaks of transience and the interconnected nature of what we share with the world.

Facing due East, as congregations do for prayer, this presence possesses a devotional aspect, a search for the numinous, which I believe to be relevant today. It speaks of things larger than ourselves.