Vance and Musk attack ‘shameful’ graffiti art at Canterbury Cathedral

JD Vance and Elon Musk have led criticism of “shameful” graffiti art at Canterbury Cathedral.

The US vice president said the art installation in the building made a “beautiful historical building really ugly.”

The brightly coloured temporary display is designed to display questions people have for God in moments of doubt and curiosity but has attracted controversy with one critic describing it as “belonging in a car park”.

Mr Vance wrote on X:

Mr Musk, the billionaire Tesla owner, shared the post with the word “shameful”.

Religious leaders and activists claimed the installation was symbolic of “decay” and said Canterbury Cathedral no longer had “a sense of the sacred”.

The Rev Marcus Walker, rector of St Bartholomew the Great in the City of London and chairman of the Save the Parish campaign group, told The Telegraph he would like to set Canterbury Cathedral a challenge to “not embarrass the rest of the Church of England for one clear calendar year”.

He added: “The leadership of Canterbury Cathedral may no longer have a sense of the sacred, but millions do and they have a duty to keep this a place of prayer and worship for the rest of us, not turn it into a private plaything of the elites.”

Disciples Of Christ, a Christian activist group, called for the “disrespectful” graffiti to be removed immediately and said the cathedral had “vandalised itself in the name of art”.

The Rev Dr Gavin Ashenden, who served as chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II but converted to Roman Catholicism in 2019, said: “I’m shocked… It belongs more to the architecture for a car park or a modern church. But in a cathedral? No.

“The notion of a cathedral is essentially to be the summit of the transcendent. If you want to do imminence and get down with the people, then you do that in a different building. It’s a category error… it’s about artistic congruence.”

He added that graffiti was a sign of “decay, rebellion and anger”, and asked: “How is that congruent with the art of a cathedral? It’s undermining. It has a different kind of aesthetic dissonance which I don’t think helps with the quest for God.”

The artwork is due to be removed before the ceremony at which Dame Sarah Mullally will legally become the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury in January.

Dame Sarah, formerly the Bishop of London, was announced this month as the first woman to hold the role, and gave an address in the cathedral.

The temporary graffiti-style imagery includes questions aimed at God such as, “Are you there?” and “Why did you create hate when love is by far more powerful?”

Others posed include, “Does everything have a soul?” and “Do you regret your creation?”

David Monteith, the Dean of Canterbury, said: “There is a rawness which is magnified by the graffiti style, which is disruptive. There is also an authenticity in what is said because it is unfiltered and not tidied up or sanitised.

“Above all, this graffiti makes me wonder why I am not always able to be as candid, not least in my prayers.

“This exhibition intentionally builds bridges between cultures, styles and genres, and in particular allows us to receive the gifts of younger people who have much to say and from whom we need to hear much.”

The graffiti is the work of Alex Vellis, a poet, and Jacquiline Creswell, a curator for English cathedrals, in collaboration with marginalised communities and a team of artists who responded to the question “What would you ask God?”

Canterbury Cathedral has been approached for comment.

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