A permanent public sculpture by the Edinburgh-born artist Hew Locke marking the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta has been unveiled in Runnymede, Surrey (15 June). The sculpture, entitled the Jurors, consists of 12 bronze chairs adorned with "images and symbols relating to past and ongoing struggles for freedom, rule of law and equal rights", says a press statement (these include the suffragette Lillie Lenton and a loudhailer belonging to the late gay rights campaigner Harvey Milk). "The Jurors is not a memorial, but rather an art work, which challenges us to consider the ongoing significance and influences of the Magna Carta," the organisers add. The work is located at the site where the charter, considered the foundation of British democracy, was signed and sealed. It was commissioned by Surrey County Council along with the National Trust, and produced by the public art organisation, Situations. In 2013, Locke created an ambitious installation for the launch of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, For Those in Peril on the Sea, which consisted of 79 ships suspended from the ceiling of the lobby.
