Flights of Fancy

Chris Thackery

The human capacity for creativity is an extraordinary thing, one of the defining elements of our humanity. The Bible portrays God as a creator and says that we are made “in his image” – that our creativity is both a gift from him and a reflection of his nature.

So much of our creativity is rooted in our capacity to imagine – another extraordinary gift. Fascinatingly, the scope of our imagination is not limited to that which is practical or even possible, to things that exist, or could. We can also imagine things that don’t exist, things that are highly improbable, or indeed completely impossible. In our imagination we can transcend the barriers of time and space, we can go beyond the boundaries of our culture, escape the tethers of our experiences and all our human limitations.  The purpose of imagination is to give us the capacity to engage with God, who is far beyond the horizon of our human thoughts and experiences, the very definition of transcendent.

But our imagination, and through it our engagement with God, is not limited to what might be seen as “religious” or “spiritual”. Our conversation with Him is also being expressed when our imagination produces ideas, thoughts and feelings that give us comfort, escape, hope, excitement, wonder and humour. All of these are gifts from God too.

This exhibition of photos is an exploration, or perhaps an experiment of imagination. Each of the photographs is of an ordinary, everyday, mundane part of our world. But through imagination they have connected with my interest in astronomy to take me on a journey to the far reaches of the galaxy, and into the distant future. It’s intended to be a journey of fun, of whimsy.  I hope you enjoy the exhibition, and that it encourages you to let your own imagination take flight.

-Chris Thackery