renounce: 1. A. give up, resign, surrender ( a claim, right, or possession); b. cast off, repudiate (a thing); decline to recognize, observe, etc. Formally also, disclaim obedience or allegiance to (a person); disclaim relationship to or acquaintance with; disown. 2. A. make a renunciation of something. B. law. Surrender formally some right or trust, esp. one’s position as heir or executor. 3. Abandon, forsake, discontinue (an action, habit, intention, etc.) Also abandon or reject (a belief or opinion) by open declaration. (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary)

This piece explores the idea of renunciation, the principal act commencing spiritual practice for many saints, from the Buddha to Saint Francis. To explore this process, I asked friends to engage in a limited renunciation––to renounce an object forever––in the spirit, if not the totality, of St. Francis. I then built a structure to house the objects––a community of renunciations––laid at the feet of the statue of the prodigal son, the elder son who, after a profligate youth, returned to his father’s house to ask forgiveness. The community was enlarged by the renunciations of visitors to the Cathedral: viewers were invited to renounce objects of their own by leaving them in the empty chambers.