the Bullring
NAME : The Bullring DATE : 1999 LOCATION : Liverpool CLIENT : Riverside Housing PARTNERS : Guy Woodland, BCA Landscape.
Brief
This lively artwork evolved through consultation with St. Andrews Community Association, the Bronte Centre and Riverside Housing Association, in Liverpool, who funded the work.
CONCEPT
The design depicts laser cut images of residents from the community, about their daily life, fashioned in mild steel and stainless steel, and set flush onto the wall. Spray stone wall coatings in contrasting colours add to the design and overall effect. A highly polished stainless steel ring frames the 50 ft design and contains the inscription:
‘The eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet I have no need of you’. St. Andrews Gardens, The Bullring Est. 1935.
process
We worked with Photographer Guy Woodland and together set up a large format camera and tripod in the street, to simply wait for people to ask us what we were doing. When they were told that ‘we want to take your portrait’, word soon got around and over the whole day relationships were built and conversations had with many groups and individuals.
Later in the week, a design session was held in the Bronte Centre, where the photographs were all set out and a collage of all the images created.
