Initially set in 1963, The Metamorphosis of St Luke’s imagines a non-denominational place of worship on the banks of the Thames at Gravesend for the resident congregation, and to provide the floating congregation docked nearby a temporary home for their faith. Furthermore, aiming to create a transitional space for those passengers disembarking their buoyant home for a life in the UK, and aiming to bridge potentially disparate cultures literally and metaphorically.

A decline in religious pursuits of the general population and the stark drop in passengers passing through Gravesend led to the closure of the building in the late 1970s. What followed in the next 50 years left the building on the cusp of demolition. Vandalism, theft, arson and weathering had left the building in ruin.

In the mid 2010s, the site was marked for educational use in the regeneration plan and it was at this point that St Luke’s School of Fine Art was created. The aim here was to ensure that the students very much had a hand in the restoration and regeneration of the building itself, notably creating a sculpture of sorts by replacing the vines and moss with a plethora of marbles.