Liverpool to Liverpool – A New World journey

Faithfull said a United Kingdom government “re-generation agency,” Liverpool’s council, and Liverpool Biennial – International Festival of Contemporary Art commissioned him to sketch “175 drawings that tell the story of a journey leaving from Liverpool, England to Liverpool, Nova Scotia.”

He added the city has been designated the Capital of Culture in Europe this year.

The public space is by the main railway station, “which is a very historical place because it’s near where everyone would catch the boat to the New World,” he said, adding “Liverpudlians” are proud of this heritage.

The drawings will be etched next spring into paving stones as well as the glass that will fill the arches of the Lime St. station.

Due to repair work on the Liverpool docks, he had to take the train to the south coast, and then a ferry to Antwerp, Belgium, where he boarded a container ship to Canada. He went to Quebec City and Montreal before boarding the train to Halifax. Finally, he took the bus to Liverpool, all the time sketching the sights of all three countries and, of course, the ocean and its sea life.

“Coming up the St. Lawrence River was incredibly beautiful. There were lots of beluga whales, and other whales we couldn’t identify, dolphins, seals.” Faithfull added the VIA Rail trip was also “fantastic. It was beautiful watching the landscape go by.” The journey took about a month. He landed in Liverpool, Nova Scotia Sept. 28 and left by airplane on Oct. 3.

“This is my first time in Canada. It’s been great. Liverpool is very beautiful. I’ve been having a very nice time. The people are very friendly here, and I even went to the bowling alley one night.”

He said he rented a bicycle and journeyed outside the community to the Western Head lighthouse. Other examples of his numerous sketches include the view looking towards the junction of Main Street and the bridge with the Liverpool sign prominently displayed, Fort Point Lighthouse Park, some historical homes, Hank Snow Country Music Centre, “crows knocking about,” and even a “bunch of people” sitting in Tim Hortons.

“The drawings tend to be quite quick with little details.” He explained the sketches needed to be suitable for etching in stone and glass. “I’m drawing using an electronic device, a palm pilot. It’s old-fashioned sketching but it’s using this little hand held device with a small screen and low resolution. They tend not to be big panoramic scenes.” He added this made the job more challenging and “interesting.”

He said he was unable to find out with certainty why Liverpool, Nova Scotia was given this name. The Queens County Museum confirmed historians don’t truly know if the community was named after Lord Liverpool or the city itself.

Faithfull said he discovered numerous Liverpool named communities around the world, ranging in geography from Africa and Australia to the “middle of the Amazon jungle.”

He was permitted to choose any Liverpool. “I chose the one that looked most connected to the United Kingdom. Despite the fact I couldn’t find out why it was called Liverpool, it is on the Mersey River and it is an early settlement. All of that seemed very relevant.”

Simon Faithfull was born in Oxfordshire, UK and studied art at Central St Martins and then Reading University. His practice takes a variety of forms - ranging from video making, to digital drawing projects, installation work and writing.

Recent projects included a video-work that records the journey of a domestic chair as it is carried to the edge of space (commissioned by Arts Catalyst), a drawing project sending back live digital drawings from a two month journey to Antarctica (an Arts Council International Fellowship with British Antarctic Survey) and an animated film developed from drawings made on a mundane walk out of London along the A13 trunk road (a Channel 4 TV commission with Arts Council England). Recent exhibitions have included solo shows in Galerie Polaris (Paris), Stills (Edinburgh) and Cell (London) with a forthcoming solo show in New York. Faithfull also exhibited at the last Venice Bienalle.