STEPHEN WALTER
STEPHEN WALTER
122 x 114 cm
Archival inkjet on Fine Art Paper,
Signed, editioned and dated by the artist – Edition 25.
(Available in 3 forms from Stephen Walter on Purchase page)
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ZOOM TOOL
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This drawing leads on from my two-year London project The Island completed in 2008, which mapped each borough. Informed by insights and knowledge of my native city and its people, along with further research, the resulting maps touch on the capital’s vastness and tap into its undercurrents.
My initial plan to create something similar for Liverpool – a city I was unfamiliar with. I was to spend an initial five days there, following a trail of contacts, and produce a whistle stop 'warts and all' tour of the city. The map would be reliant upon the knowledge and views of others, juxtaposed with research made on the Internet and in cultural and historical books. However, whilst journeying through the City I fell in love with a woman from Liverpool. This, and a growing number of personal relationships and the pride and energy in which Liverpudlians talk and feel about their city that I experienced, resulted in further visits and a map of Liverpool far larger and more detailed than was initially planned.
The map is geographically accurate and highlights many of Liverpool's main roads, railway lines, built up areas, monuments and green spaces. It records several memorable viewpoints from different parts of the city. “I began to translate Liverpool's character to paper, its snippets of quirks, idiosyncrasies, its stereotypes, places of interest and etymology of place names into a celebration of the masonry and hearts of Liverpool”.