This weekend sees the start of a month long exhibition at Ely Cathedral for local artist Stephen Tromans. Amanda Borrill met up with him to discover more about the inspiration behind these unique works of art.
Tucked away in a quiet corner of Impington’s The Crescent you’ll find the studio of local artist Stephen Tromans. A barrister and King’s Counsel by profession, specialising in environmental and energy law, Stephen took up painting as a hobby around ten years ago and his work features regularly in the popular Open Studios events.
Climbing the stairs of his studio annex, it is clear to see this ‘hobby’ is an immensely productive one. In the hallway of the home he shares with his wife Caroline, art sits on floors leaning up against the walls and the studio itself displays an abundance of work from across the years, including an eye catching ‘Trafalgar Square’ with stunning black frame that wouldn’t look out of place in the National Gallery. This is one of Stephen’s very early works created in 2014, quite soon after he took up painting in oils and, he tells me, loosely based on a similar painting by the Norfolk painter Edward Seago.
His wife Caroline, he confesses, is to be thanked for, “putting up with all the clutter, distraction and absent mindedness that seems to go with producing art” and as the wife of a ‘tech guy’, I can’t help thinking it’s infinitely preferable to the PC World feel that often dominates my own hallway.
A lifelong passion
A lifelong lover of art, like so many of his generation he was steered away from the subject in school – being viewed only as a rather frivolous way to spend your time – and encouraged to pursue what were considered ‘more productive’ academic avenues. A law degree followed with Stephen spending some time teaching law at Cambridge University. But the desire to paint never really diminished and in 2013 he took himself off on a beginner’s course at Norfolk Painting School, completing a Diploma in oil painting in 2018.
I was struck by the contrast between legal career and artist but Stephen was quick to point out that life as a barrister is nowhere near as exciting as it might appear on TV. Both activities involve long periods of solitude – in his legal world that time is spent working with words but in his artistic life it’s taken up creating images.
There are, however, occasional crossovers and it was through his legal firm’s involvement with the Grenfell Tower inquiry that Stephen created his painting of the Tower (pictured left). Recalling how it came about he told me: “A number of barristers in my Chambers were involved in the inquiry and when it came to an end I was asked if I would create a painting of the Tower as it was before the fire. It proved quite difficult to get a suitable image of the Tower before the fire and I wanted to give the building some nobility as a mark of respect for those who lived, and died, there”.
Making an impact
Stephen’s exhibition, which opens this coming Saturday, 18 February, is set to make quite an impact in Ely Cathedral’s Lady Chapel. Entitled GOLGOTHA 2022 Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine and Christ’s Passion, the work, which began almost immediately after the invasion began in 2022, sets the events in Ukraine against the Easter story which was unfolding at the same time. Taking his influence from some of the great artists of the past such as Goya, Picasso, Rubens, and Rembrandt – all of whom have themselves sought to depict both the horrors of war and the suffering of Christ – one year on Stephen is seeking to draw out the meaning of Christ’s Passion and what it has to say now in speaking of human suffering and human evil.
Stephen tells more: “On 24th February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine. This profoundly shocking action was to give rise over the ensuing months to untold human misery in loss of life, injury, rapes and other war crimes, the separation of families, mental and physical trauma and loss of homes and possessions. It was the cause of the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
“In the period before Lent 2022 I had been working on a religious triptych, ‘Transfiguration, Crucifixion and Resurrection’, which was exhibited in my local parish church, St Andrew’s Impington. Oddly, much of the tone and colour of these works prefigured the images of war from Ukraine. The work then came in two main phases: an initial burst of activity over the Spring and early Summer, which resulted in a number of images which I was able to display at my Open Studios in 2022 with visitors including a number of Ukrainians who had been offered homes by people here in our community.
“There was then a second burst of activity in the period after November 2022 by which time I had the opportunity to have read and reflected further on events”.
A labour of love
Stephen has really had his work cut out for this upcoming exhibition. He was offered space for 25 pieces and, at Christmas last year, had completed just 11! So things have really moved on these last few months. “I suffered a detached retina last year” Stephen reveals “and much of the work I have produced was done using only my remaining working eye. Things are gradually easing but, yes, it has certainly presented me with a few challenges along the way.”
Thanking those involved in getting this off the ground, Stephen shared: “I am most grateful to the Dean and Chapter of Ely Cathedral for
permission for this exhibition in the calm and beautiful setting of the Lady Chapel, and to Jocelyn Palmer and Caroline Harrison of the Events Team at the Cathedral for facilitating it. I am also grateful to my friend Peter Garside, a guide at the Cathedral, for the initial suggestion of an exhibition there”.
Much support from our local businesses here in Histon & Impington has gone into the exhibition too, with the photography of many of the paintings for the catalogue undertaken by Stuart Norris of Outdoor Imaging Impington and the brochure itself produced by Histon’s Print-Out.
Praying for peace
It is hoped that the exhibition will boost Stephen’s fundraising for the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund. Already, in 2022, Stephen has raised £6000 from the sale of his artwork and this event will give further opportunity to support the appeal with 75% of the money raised through sales of his work going directly to the Humanitarian Fund and the remaining 25% to Ely Cathedral.
I asked Stephen what visitors to the Lady Chapel can expect when they visit and his message was this: “Those visiting the beautiful and calm surroundings of the Lady Chapel at Ely will find over two dozen paintings exploring these themes. Whether or not you have Christian faith, I hope that you will find here food for reflection as we again approach Easter, and that you will be prompted to pray for the people of Ukraine, and for peace in that country and in our world.”
The exhibition Golgotha 2022, Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine and Christ’s Passion, takes place in the Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral from Saturday 18 February until Friday 17 March. Tickets are available here.
Enquiries on the purchase of original works and prints can be sent to stephen.tromans@39essex.com.