Sophie Collins

I encountered a scaffold outside the Holy Trinity Church in Vladimir, Russia. At first I didn’t notice her slumped against the side of the church — she was pretty small for a scaffold, pretty un- assuming. Her safety mesh was torn in places and sun-bleached all over and threatened to dislodge due to a forceful wind that was typical of the season. She was shaking. She was fundamentally insecure. She told me that good foundations are essential and that the men who had put her together hadn’t taken advantage of the right opportunities. Now, each day, someone came by called her “unsafe” and also “a liability” then left, failing to initiate the dismantling process that yes would have been painful and slow, but kinder. International visitors to the church blamed her for the mess of tools and rags on the grounds and for the fact that they could no longer see the church’s celebrated mural depicting Saint Artemy of Verkola unusually pious highly venerated child saint killed by lightning. His dead body radiated light never showed signs of decay and was in fact said to have effected multiple miracles of healing. I said comforting things to the scaffold but she only seemed to lean more heavily against the side of the church. We are rarely independent structures she said before she dropped a bolt pin which released a long section of tube which released another bolt pin which released several wooden boards that scraped another tube and made an unbearable sound.