Fluminalis
https://fluminalis.com/inventory
So many of the world's relics are hidden away in Churches. In fact, every Catholic and Orthodox church will house a relic within its altar, as in 787 A.D., the Second Council of Nicaea decreed that every altar should contain a relic. When I consider the number of religious buildings around the world, it is unsurprising that relics were purposefully reproduced and divided. Cynthia Hahn, in her 2016 book The Reliquary Effect, writes that ‘Although reliquaries make rhetorical claims to the singularity of the relics they contain, it was important to religions that relics and miraculous images, and even reliquaries, were disseminated and reproduced' (Hahn, 2016. p.46).
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Photography is such a large part of my practice that I feel some frustration that I can't easily photograph relics first-hand. I have a decent collection of photographs from my travels in the past few years to Lisbon and Palermo and seeking out museums, galleries and the occasional church or cathedral permitting photographs to be taken. I was keen to look into the commercial side of relics and reliquaries and in my research I found Fluminalis, a huge wholesaler of religious antiques near Utrecht in The Netherlands. In the 'About' section of the website is written:
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'51 Monasteries in Holland, Belgium and France were totally cleared by Fluminalis; 26 big churches and 81 chapels did sell their complete inventory to Fluminalis; from 231 religious buildings Fluminalis bought greater parts of the inventory. From 39 church-towers Fluminalis removed 87 bells...........' (https://fluminalis.com/history)
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Flumunalis seems to have thousands of relics and reliquaries. In January 2025 I wrote an email to Fluminalis' director asking if I could visit to photograph and document the place. I attached some images of my prints to the email.
Contacting Fluminalis
Dear Harald,
I am getting in contact because I discovered Fluminalis through my research into religious relics. I am an artist and printmaker, living in London, UK. I am studying towards a Masters in Fine Art at University of the Arts in London and I specialise in etching and woodcut printing.
As part of my research I have been creating artworks from photographs of relics and reliquaries. I have attached some of my recent prints and photographic works in the PDF. If it would be convenient, I would be truly grateful if you would allow me to visit Fluminalis to photograph your religious artefacts. I would use these photographs to create new etchings and photographic works, as well as to support my continuing research into this subject area.
If you think this would be possible, I would love to make arrangements to visit Fluminalis to document the wonderful artefacts.
I look forward to hearing from you. Wishing you a happy new year!
With Warm Regards,
Lizzie Latham
I wasn't surprised to receive a polite refusal. It made me think about the other relic enthusiasts, artists, filmmakers etc. who would see the worth in this place.
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​The website itself is actually an extraordinary feat of cataloguing and archiving, and objects are recorded in the utmost detail. I began to see how I could use the website itself as a place to source my imagery and learn even more about relics and reliquaries.
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Fluminalis as Archive
Every documented reliquary has a front and back view. From this I learned that each reliquary is sealed on the back with a wax seal, presumably to authenticate it. Alongside each recorded artefact the website provides information about the religious figure/site that the relic belongs to.
Reliquary with relic stone from the Stoning of St. Liduina (front view). Belgium, 19th Century. Brass, glass, wax seal.
Reliquary with relic stone from the Stoning of St. Liduina (back view). Belgium, 19th Century. Brass, glass, wax seal.
Multi-reliquary (front and back view), Relic Of The True Cross & More, brass, glass, wax. Belgium, 1790
Reliquary with multiple Ex Ossibus relics from the Catacombs, France 1885
'Very Rare' Glass-Bulb-Reliquary Ex Ossibus St. Rainerius. Italy, 1790
Reliquary of St. Colomba in shrine, wax body with real bones inside. France, about 1790
Multi-reliquary, contains 75 relics. Italy, 18th Century
Woolwich Print Fair 2024
The print at this year's fair which really made me feel something was Carol Wyss' The Mind Has Mountains 14. Wyss' large-scale prints, described as 'etching, carborundum, drypoint, engraving, photo-etching' seem to monumentalise the human skull. The piece made me feel as if I was looking at something ancient and revered, but also tender and poignant; I suppose how I would feel if I were to hold a human skull. The work made me consider the power of scale in a print; when big-ness is necessary for the meaning of the work.
Carol Wyss, The Mind Has Mountains 14, etching, carborundum, drypoint, engraving, photo-etching, 180 x 136cm, 2024
Holly Drewett, Leaves Underfoot. laser engraving, monotype. 32 x 49.5cm, 2023
I was intrigued by a lot of the digital techniques at Woolwich, including this laser engraving by Holly Drewett. It made me think of what the Impressionist painters would make of these tiny particles of light and their vibrating effect on the eye. Drewett's works are often depictions of graphic scores of sounds within nature.
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I like the idea of removing information to create light, giving the sense of dissolving into dust.
detail
Ian Chamberlain's scratched photopolymer print caught my attention because of its abstract object-like forms which have the feel of an abandoned scientific base or fallen satellite.
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Ian Chamberlain, Synthetic Landscape ll, photopolymer, 35 x 31cm, 2022
Cornelia Parker's series of photopolymer prints had interested me for a while, so I was pleased to see one of the prints in reality at the fair. Parker's process is to place the glass objects onto photo-sensitive plates and expose them, almost a cross between a photogram and a photopolymer print. Interestingly, she describes using different directions of light to create darker and more dramatic shadows.
Cornelia Parker, Being and Unbeing, photopolymer, 72.5 x 56.4cm, 2020
Eames Print Gallery: Kip Gresham
Eames Gallery in Bermondsey exhibited a selection of works from the personal archive of the 'master printmaker' Kip Gresham, who died in 2024.
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I was interested because all of the works were screen prints from a selection of well-known artists including Paula Rego, Eduardo Paolozzi, Patrick Caulfield and Elisabeth Frink. Screen printing is something I have never got into and I have been wondering if I'm missing something. Seeing this exhibition opened my eyes to the versatility of screen print and made me want to try again.
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The Antony Gormley prints (below) were the most confusing to me, as I couldn't see how they could be screen prints. We supposed the 'paper' edge must have been exposed and printed as a layer, first as a cream block, then as grey detailing. I don't know enough about screen to understand how the inky edges had been created. Perhaps it was originally an ink painting which had been exposed onto a screen?
Antony Gormley
Paula Rego
I learned a lot from trying to decipher the layers of work behind the other more 'painterly' prints. Examining Paula Rego's print and discussing it with my course mate, I realised I hadn't tried a lot of these techniques - using crayon and tusche to layer a print in this way.
Paula Rego (detail)
Kip Gresham
Book Binding Workshop
The Slade Press - limited edition bookworks for ‘artist & writer’ collaboration project. Jane Borodale & Eddie Farrell 2004
Clare Bryan, an artist and teacher of book arts and book binding taught us how to construct a variety of folded paper pamphlets and books.
I was interested to see some of the books she had been commissioned to make for other artists, including a book of woodcuts which was made from the wooden printing blocks.
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Paper sculpture and the idea of books as sculptural objects interest me greatly. I will keep this research as a reminder for when I do my Research Festival project.
Lazarides - The Outsiders - a one-off binding of woodcuts by artist Lucy Mclauchlan
Poster Fold
Bostriophedron
Slotted Zig-zag
Imposition
Japanese Stab Binding
Before I knew that Clare had previously created a book from woodblocks, I asked her how it might be done. She drew me a diagram of how it might be constructed.
Clare's sketch for creating a book cover from carved woodblocks