"The skull represents the Mari Lwyd, a Welsh midwinter custom where a horse's skull, draped in ribbons and cloth, is paraded from house to house during Christmas festivities. It forms the centrepiece of an exhibition by London-based artist Ben Edge, who is known for his contemporary depictions of British folk rituals. Watching over his vast mural, the ghostly horse gives the chapel an air of ancient ceremony reborn."
"The mural, Children of Albion, sprawls across the wall - a painting blending old and new rites, protests and prayers, sacred trees and modern architecture. Within its dense imagery are scenes from solstice celebrations in Milton Keynes, and reimaginings of the folk song John Barleycorn, populated by hybrid figures that blur the lines between human, animal and plant."
"Edge describes his work as part of a "Folk Renaissance," a movement to reconnect with the mythic, the ancestral, and the natural world. It echoes Victorian efforts to revive rural traditions and the 1970s folk revival that followed. There's irony in how many supposedly "ancient" English customs are in fact modern reinventions, but perhaps that's the point: they speak to a yearning for something lost."
A hospital chapel altar holds a horse's skull on a pole representing the Mari Lwyd, a Welsh midwinter custom in which a skull draped in ribbons and cloth is paraded between houses at Christmas. The skull anchors Ben Edge's Children of Albion, a vast mural painting that blends old and new rites, protests and prayers, sacred trees and modern architecture. The dense imagery includes solstice scenes from Milton Keynes and reimaginings of the folk song John Barleycorn, populated by hybrid figures that blur human, animal and plant. Edge frames the work within a self-described "Folk Renaissance" that reconnects mythic and natural worlds. The exhibition runs at Fitzrovia Chapel until 26 November 2025 and is free to visit.
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