'Sorrow' has been made specifically for InSpiritus at Oslo Cathedral. The work consists of 10 slip cast porcelain rattles made to hang from the hymn number hooks, and a cast paper cradle-board (work in progress). The text on the rattles reads "A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, Lk. 2:35", a biblical quote where Mary is told this by a prophetess at the circumcision of Jesus.

'Sorrow' is a work with many layers of meaning. It is a work about grief, about motherhood, about death (and in particular death of a child), and about threat. The rattles are delicate and beautiful and yet obviously not functional, they are fragile and breakable, emitting a very real sense of danger. The text is interesting because it tells us that Mary as a mother was aware that she would also suffer as her son was destined to suffer. It seems to me that motherhood is as such about emotional pain as it is about love and it is this that I wanted to convey in the piece 'Sorrow'.

Untitled 3 by Paula Chambers. Photographer unknown.

Porcelain and satin ribbon