Following the narrative of seeking enlightenment or freedom within societies not inherently deemed as spiritual, Stu Herring's practice (Industrial Spiritualism) consists of undertaking self made ritualistic tasks, ceremonies, abstinence or meditation sometimes influenced by the practice of monks, sadhus and other spiritual practitioners. Herring also focuses on manual labour within some of his works, which he believes induces a lateral meditative state to that of some spiritual type tasks and also holds just as much cultural identity and strength.
The artist’s North East England heritage is not temples and ceremonies, it is identified by its great ships, bridges, and mining black gold. Identified on a global scale by ingenuity that arises from work and toil. As with many cultures the great age passed and it morphed into a mono-city hollowed out with service industry capitalism, looking backward for glory, marching on to oblivion in a cycle of seemingly endless monotony.
Herring works to condense these themes into an industrial occultism somewhere between zen and existential practice, a means to deal with the grim reality of our potential trajectory of the world and our collective decision making that seem to drive us further to our demise of mass extinction, or maybe what could be the greatest of sacrifices to our own glory.
Inspired support Stu Herring is Project Manager for Inspired Creatives, part Inspired Support who are a leading organisation working with people with autism.
