Mole-like,
he emerges into the
light
stumbling on alien
limbs
his unseen labours now
behind him
forever
a burden to be
carried
through the pressing
crowds
who thank him for his
service,
this curiosity
this misplaced
object.
What cast will mark
this place?
What happens when the
role you have played all your life – you, and your father and grandfather
before you – is taken away? What happens when that role does not lie in wait
for your son, when your children must set out on an unmarked road?
Those are questions
facing Zechariah.
What happens when it
is not only you and your son, but all of your neighbours and their sons and
daughters too?
That is a question
posed by the Angel of the North – which perhaps also stands as a signpost on
that not-clearly-marked but not-wholly-unmarked road?
There are some
fantastic pieces of art installed on the subterranean platforms of Sunderland
train station which also connect to these ideas:
a wall, a walkway
made of lights along which the figures of travellers pass back and forth, never
emerging from the light-tunnel in the dark but carrying potential onward
journeys;
and a series of almost fifty poster-sized photos of objects left unintentionally on trains – toys, jewellery, rosary, wallet, notepad, a camera, umbrella, cushion – misplaced items, taking on a beauty of their own when seen from a fresh perspective.
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