Pointing Statues
The ‘On The Line’ project involves me travelling to various locations that are situated on the same line of latitude or longitude as the place where I was born. At each spot I record the exact coordinates and have my photo taken pointing in the direction of Hull.
In July 2015 we were on holiday in Portugal and spent a few days in the beautiful city of Porto. In the Jardim do Infante Dom Henrique there is a magnificent statue of Prince Henry the Navigator (right) perched high on a fancy pedestal. He is celebrated there because he is a local lad who played a very important part in the country’s exploration and discovery of new lands. The statue has one arm outstretched pointing south. As soon as I saw it I thought what a neat coincidence it would be if the artist had placed the statue so that Henry was pointing in the direction of his place of birth. A bit of research informed me that he is believed to have been born in a building on the southern edge of the square, Casa do Infante, but that his pose in the statue represents him pointing, not to it, but towards the ocean. Nonetheless I took some photos and that’s where the ‘Pointing Statues’ project was born. In some respects I’m really glad that he isn’t ‘on his line’ because that would have meant that my idea wasn’t original; I’d have been beaten to it by a fair few years. 114 years to be exact.
