Les Colombes – Salisbury Cathedral
Les Colombes, an installation which started out as a commemoration of the end of the First World War, has gained even greater significance since the nerve agent attack earlier this year in this historic city. Doves are a symbol of peace and hope and so totally appropriate as an antidote to the events that took place here.
Michael Pendry installing Les Colombes in Salisbury Cathedral, 9th May 2018
The artist Michael Pendry has exhibited these works at various places around the world and encourages local people to create new doves to add to the total number and has done the same here in Salisbury Cathedral where some 2,500 ‘fly’ in the nave.
Les Colombes reflected in William Pye’s font in Salisbury Cathedral
The step of taking the doves into the shops and city is a beautiful one for it spreads the message of peace and hope into the community and perhaps, just as following the descent of the Holy Spirit onto the apostles at Pentecost enabled the Apostles to be understood by people of different nations, it will be one that resonates with the many visitors that come here from around the World.
Doves in Casa Fina, High Street, Salisbury (c)
The artist says of his work: “Although the doves are folded by different people in their unity they stand for a fundamental human right – the right to peace and freedom. The time has come to declare ourselves and to stand up for this! May the flock of doves grow, from place to place, from country to country, and across all borders. Peace, freedom, and sustainability in a world of change and disturbance are the key themes of my installations.”
May his words as we approach Pentecost 2018 be heard both near and afar and acted upon.
Reflections in Salisbury Cathedral
https://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/
https://www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/salisbury
#SalisburyCityofDoves
The name Goliath conjures up various images in one’s mind – large imposing, strong, unbeatable – and therefore you could be excused for envisioning a statue even larger than Michelangelo’s ‘David’ in Florence. Well the celebrated sculptor Johannes von Stumm, a former President of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, offers a different approach.
His ‘Goliath’ stands on the ‘Wessex Plinth’ outside Salisbury Museum and its form recalls the standing stones of this area. It is of West Country granite combined with a glass head which recalls the actual fragility of Goliath against the stone from David’s sling.
Tim Forrest's E & A 