A Book of Hours — Shuntong (Anivia) Deng

02.002

Graphic Works

[A Book of Hours]

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Laser on Paper, Stitch Bind with Hard Cover, 6” x 9”
Pratt 2025

While entering the world of sacred art and music with no religious background and a pure passion for materialism and classical music, singing in church choirs has never converted me, nor have years of studying religious imagery and architecture at Pratt. When sitting in the choir pews, and between praising God through song, listening to sermons, and watching baptisms, I find myself constantly looking up and outward, to the walnut-wood pinnacles, the stained glass, the vaulted ceilings. I feel more personally connected to these materials than to the prayers and creeds, whose words, after repetition, lose their meaning. What remains are sound, texture, and space: the waves of my voice mingling with my fellow singers’, echoing through vaults, walls, and colored glass, creating an illusion of timelessness and transcendence.

The passing of time within sacred space is real, and it matters. Rituals are structured around time, with rhythms and repetition, just as in Christianity, where a church service not only follows a liturgical calendar but also varies according to the canonical hours. This awareness prompted me to create the book, A Book of Hours, to present my experience of singing in churches in a tangible, readable way: the fragmented words, the passing of time tracked by the changing of light from stained glass, the shimmering of vestments, and the constant burning of candles.

The book will also feature a series of illustrations that attempt to visualize time and sound as they move beneath colored light. It is, in essence, a meditation on the metaphysical experience of religion from the perspective of a non-believer—and a way for me to close the chapter on my years of singing in New York, where faith, architecture, and sound converge in the same luminous air.