was commissioned by Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral as the first large-scale public artwork in the cathedral's history. It marked the 300th anniversary of the topping-out of Sir Christopher Wren's architectural masterpiece in 2008.

is Firrell's first mass participation project and the first work to be presented at such scale, both physically and philosophically.

The work posed the simple question, 'What makes life meaningful and purposeful?' and invited responses from the public during the anniversary year.

Firrell investigated belief, non-belief and the politics of both positions in conversation with the clergy at St Paul's, novelist Howard Jacobson, humanist philosopher A C Grayling, and columnist Caitlin Moran.

The resulting texts, from the domestic to the sexual to the sublime, were projected onto the exterior of the cathedral dome, the West Front at Ludgate Hill, and the interior of the Whispering Gallery.

The inclusion of Arabic text was intended to be political and conciliatory at a time of armed conflict in the Middle East. The Arabic script for sun evokes humanity's shared fortune - we all live under, and depend on, the same sun regardless of differences in language, culture or belief.

Doubt plays an important role in Christian theological tradition. 'Doubting Thomas' is a compelling figure in the Christ story. John 20:25: 'Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.'

This fact made it possible for the artist to present audacious, self-questioning content like:

Texts projected in the Whispering Gallery present complex and often contradictory answers to the question, 'What makes life meaningful?' including the admission of bewilderment.

expressed a collective disbelief about war in the Middle East, the murder of women and children, destruction of infrastructre and environmental degradation.

The aim of was to create a seemingly endless flow of possible meanings and purposes for life across the surfaces of the cathedral so illustrating the unanswerable nature of the question and the plurality of life projects committed to by different individuals. Diversity was the only quality these different life projects had in common.

implies that within this diversity there must be space for all: with or without faith, with or without disability, LGBT+ or straight, male, female or non-binary, young or old.

also re-lit the cathedral to show Wren's architecture in a new light - literally - so that the familiar design would be 'seen' afresh during the week of tercentenary projections.

The text was presented against digital animations of blue spines of light which swept over the outside surface of the dome. The same blue spines were replicated on the inside of the dome describing the curvature of the Eastern wall at the level of the Whispering Gallery.

On the West front, the spines moved within the confines of the central rising columns of the West Front portico underlining the striking rising verticals of Wren's design.

was dedicated by Martin Firrell to the memory of film producer Simon Channing Williams. The project opened as part of the Lord Mayor's celebrations and was seen by an estimated 1.5 million people.