Mount Athos RCA Drawing Bursary. March 2013/July 2013/November 2013. Exhibition in 2014

In 2013, Vyner was invited to take up the Doug Patterson/RCA Drawing Bursary at Mount Athos, a chain of Orthodox monasteries in Greece, whose origins began in the 6th century. The purpose of this residency is to produce a visual record of monastic life which is normally withheld from the public gaze. The images which Vyner will contribute to an illustrious archive of the Mountain, whose previous contributors include Sir Edward Lear and Le Corbusier. The theme of idolatry and worship has emerged throughout Vyner’s research, but normally through the very secular and public lens of mediated sport; Vyner’s ability to overcome bureaucratic hurdles in order to gain inside access led directly to this new assignment, for which worship is an obvious theme. The highly circumscribed conditions in which Vyner is permitted to draw have led to him to use both traditional watercolour to capture the architecture and landscape, and the iPad to create portraits in a place where photography is strictly forbidden. This challenging project will result in an exhibition of his work in London and Thessaloniki in 2014 to which loved ones and members of the local community are offered a rare glimpse of a life so fiercely guarded and hidden from view.

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