Author Archives: Graham Stephen

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River of Light

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Date: 3 November 2022

Location: Liverpool Waterfront

River of Light comprised 10 illuminated public art installations distributed along a 2 km trail across Liverpool Waterfront from 21 October to 6 November 2022.

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Outdoor art

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Date: 3 November 2022

Location: Liverpool

  • Neptune (53.4075609,-2.9917735), Walker House, Exchange Buildings. George Thomas Capstick (1854–1964) and Edmund Charles Thompson (1898–1961). Relief, Portland stone.

  • Archway (53.4094535,-2.9831148), Mersey Tunnels / William Brown Street roundabout.

  • Mercury (53.4073793,-2.992011), Horton House, Exchange Buildings. George Thomas Capstick (1854–1964) and Edmund Charles Thompson (1898–1961). Relief, Portland stone.

  • Tiger’s head (53.4068203,-2.9923945), former Bank of Liverpool, 7 Water Street. One of the two tigers’ head reliefs on the double doors of the former bank building. The facade of Grayson & Ould’s 1896 Bank of Liverpool building was rebuilt by architects Palmer & Holden in 1934 when the building was taken over by the National Provincial Bank. MGMA Architects are currently in the process of converting the upper floors of the structure into apartments.

  • Liverpool Blitz Memorial (53.406948,-2.995100), Liverpool Parish Church. Tom Murphy (b 1949). Bronze (2000). In memory of the 4,000 civilians killed and the 10,000 injured in the 1940-42 blitz of Liverpool — the most bombed city in the UK during WWII.

  • Evanescent (53.4077555,-2.9919613), Exchange Buildings. Atelier Sisu. One of the 10 exhibits in the 2 km River of Light illuminated sculpture trail (21 October – 6 November 2022).

  • Happiness, the Greatest Gift That We Possess (53.407635,-2.981273), Royal Court Theatre. Paul Curtis. Mural (2020) depicting the late Ken Dodd’s Diddy Men.

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Waterfront

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Date: 3 November 2022

Location: Liverpool waterfront 53.4041494,-2.9966944

  • Looking across the River Mersey towards Birkenhead, with the Queensway Tunnel ventilation station at Woodside prominent on the skyline
  • Heaven and Earth, sculpture by Andy Plant (b 1959) — representing a telescope and orrery — dedicated to local astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks (1618 – 1641)
  • Museum of Liverpool (2013)
  • Royal Liver Building (2013)
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Psyche 🦋

Psyche at the well,
Benjamin Edward Spence

Apuleius (c 124 – c 170) lived in provincial North Africa (in present-day Algeria) and was the author of the only surviving complete novel in Latin. His work, entitled Metamorphoses, or alternatively The Golden Ass, includes the tale of Cupid and Psyche as a story within the story.

According to Apuleius’s narrative, Psyche (Roman Anima) is a mortal of unsurpassed beauty, outshining even the goddess of love Venus (Greek Aphrodite) herself. Jealous Venus sends her son Cupid (Greek Eros) to exact revenge by making Psyche fall in love with the most miserable and vilest of men. Cupid, however, falls in love with her himself. He later arranges her rescue from sacrifice to a monster and installs her in a sumptuous palace and visits her there every night. Cupid, however, withholds his true identity and forbids Psyche to look upon him.

Psyche’s scheming elder sisters visit and, jealous of her good fortune, convince her to determine the identity of her host, which must surely be the monster to which she was to be offered, and that she should slay the beast in its slumber. Armed with a dagger and a lamp, Psyche intends to carry out the plan, but when she beholds the god’s beauty she accidentally spills hot oil from the lamp onto Cupid which awakens him. Having discovered his true identity, Psyche is then abandoned by Cupid who flies off.

Distraught, she wanders in search of Cupid, trying in vain to enlist divine help. Finally, she renders herself to Venus, who tortures her and sets her four seemingly impossible tasks. With the help of some supernatural intervention, Psyche succeeds in accomplishing all of these, but in the final one, her curiosity and desires lead to her succumbing to an eternal sleep.

Cupid, now healed from the oil burn, finds Psyche, draws the sleep from her, and petitions Jupiter (Greek Zeus). Jupiter warns Venus off, grants immortality to Psyche, and approves the marriage of Cupid and Psyche. The happy couple have a daughter, Voluptas (Greek Hedone), goddess of pleasure.

Date:
3 November 2022

Location:
Walker Art Gallery, William Brown Street, Liverpool
53.4101842,-2.9798814

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