Tables In The Chapel

The Master and Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge are hosting SCULPTURE IN THE CLOSE for the thirteenth year. Apart from the permanent sculptures, those on loan are changed once or twice a year. I have already photographed some of them, but went along again to look in the chapel. I saw a notice in a roped off area saying...'The Sculptures are very fragile. Do not touch them.' I looked around but couldn't see anything remotely like a sculpture so assumed they hadn't installed anything yet. I asked somebody official looking what the sculptures would be, and he said that I was looking at them and they were the stacked tables! So, this is the information:- ' Doris Saledo, PLEGARIA MUDA, (2008-10) wood, mineral compound, cement and grass. She has combined many of the same motifs and materials, turning a succession of installations into a ritual sequence. The tables do not merely symbolize social relationships but which are materially involved with them-- a bond between the individual and the social unit. Each unit of paired tables, joined and separated by a layer of earth indicates the growth patterns of seedlings sown into the earth.' After reading this, I did understand what her purpose was, and it was hard to believe that the tables were fragile sculptures and not real. I desperately wanted to touch one, but thought I'd better not!