Photography: David Vintiner documents a milennium-old pilgrimage

Date
10 July 2013

It’s not often that we feature images of religious significance on the site, but David Vintiner’s photographs of a modern day version of a 1,000-year-old pilgrimage are too compelling not to. Pilgrim is a series that follows a group of Christians on a journey of religious observance to the island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland. The island used to be home to a monastery, made famous in the 7th Century by Saint Cuthbert, a miracle worker and later patron saint of Northumberland. The island and monastery were abandoned in 793 following its partial destruction by Viking raids and ever since pilgrims have been travelling there to pay homage to this once-great bastion of British Christianity.

Aside from the obvious mystique of this ancient tradition, David’s images manage to capture the mundanity of such an exercise. Apart from the wooden crosses on their shoulders, the subjects of these images look no more unusual than your average rambler, but the simple act of walking has a greater significance to these people than many of us will understand. It’s a tricky thing to capture this kind of inner dialogue using simple imagery but David has succeeded with skill.

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David Vintiner: Pilgrim

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David Vintiner: Pilgrim

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David Vintiner: Pilgrim

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David Vintiner: Pilgrim

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David Vintiner: Pilgrim

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David Vintiner: Pilgrim

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David Vintiner: Pilgrim

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David Vintiner: Pilgrim

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David Vintiner: Pilgrim

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David Vintiner: Pilgrim

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David Vintiner: Pilgrim

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About the Author

James Cartwright

James started out as an intern in 2011 and came back in summer of 2012 to work online and latterly as Print Editor, before leaving in May 2015.

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