Steph FormanTributes have been left at an art installation designed to replicate the cell of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
His death in an Arctic Circle jail was announced by Russia’s prison service earlier this week.
Navalny, a vociferous critic of President Vladimir Putin, had been in prison since January 2021.
The artwork, in Dorchester Abbey in Oxfordshire, is a life-size reconstruction of his prison cell.
Visitors are invited to enter the 10ft (3m) by 7ft (2m) artwork and remain inside for three minutes in what artist Adrian Brooks described as an “act of solidarity”.
Steph FormanSpeaking to the BBC before the news of Navalny’s death, the artist said he hoped people felt “overwhelmed” by the experience.
A soundscape of marching feet and a ticking clock inside the piece is designed to replicate the conditions that Navalny would have experienced while in detention.
Steph FormanMr Brooks said he hoped the artwork would make people leave thinking: “I admire your courage, your faith, your home, your love, your compassion.”
He added: “It’s an act of gratitude that there are people of such passion and courage and faith who are willing to make a stand for human dignity and justice.”
The artist said he hoped the ultimate effect of the piece on people would be “one of hope rather than claustrophobia”.
The installation also features portraits of other political prisoners around the world, including Terry Waite – the Church of England envoy who was held captive in Lebanon between 1987 and 1991.
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