Cathedral Critters

Magda and I spent much of a Sunday afternoon looking at the unusual work of a South African artist: "Jane Alexander: Surveys (From the Cape of Good Hope)." Its setting in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine multiplied the strange factor considerably.

I hadn't visited the cathedral since my undergraduate days at Columbia, more than 40 years ago. You just don't realize how deep it is until you're inside. Definitely a great place to cool off during the summer.



These certainly aren't the kinds of congregants you'd expect to find in a house of worship.

Yes, they and many others are as naked as the day god brought them into this world, aside from the battered leather shoes they're wearing.

 

Even if the New York Times hadn't clued me in to Ms. Alexander's themes, I defnitely would have gotten the sense that these creatures aren't all created equal. This is some muzzle, huh?

This little guy seems sad as well as frightening, perhaps a future victim of today’s environmental thoughtlessness.

Nearly all the critters are supplicants, but some are more "human" than others. I don't think that's necessarily a good thing.

While most of the sculptures and tableaux are confined to the seven Chapels of the Tongues (one for each of the major immigrant groups who first entered New York City at Ellis Island around the turn of the century, just when the cathedral was being built), the exhibit also extends into a rarely accessible courtyard.  Here's Magda beneath a lone sentry.

The outdoor critters exude malevolence. The red gloves they're standing on reminded me of the masses of personal effects you find in Holocaust museums.

This virile guard had a mercilessness I definitely associate with an SS job qualification.

Two tableaux were particularly shocking. They seemed to depict a society capable of imprisoning the disabled . . .

and predicated on blind worship.

Thanks, Jane, for plenty to ponder while the ginormous organ played to a nearly empty house.