Score #13 - Laura Phelps

Score #13 by Laura Phelps

[score base: a photo of a stone tower; photo and score: Laura Phelps (2021); score text: continuously circling/The wreckage and the ruin/it is generally framed in terms of failure:/—as inevitable/an artist/prizes the experience/these dominant readings/transformed/how to spur growth without sacrificing/people]

Blake, 30 July 2021, New York City, USA

An Instagram post that depicts a shadow outline of Blake's body over a plaque that reads Bristol Basin, Beneath this East River Drive of the City of New York Lies Stones, Bricks and Rubble from The Bombed City of Bristol in England. Brought here in ballast from overseas, these fragments that once were homes shall testify while men love freedom to the resolution and fortitude of the people of Britain they saw their homes struck down without warning. It was not their walls but their valor that kept them free." On the right the post reads: "blakewalks: The only housing in Manhattan East of the FDR is built on rubble from Bristol shipped over after World War II. I circled it continuously for @pterolaur's contribution to 52 More (me and the joggers, who went round and round and round.) Somehow I had missed this piece of history, though Robert Moses certainly had his hands in it. My time away has transformed my dominant readings. Laura explored the score in Cardiff and Julius explored it in Eastbourne connecting England to Wales to Manhattan. Check out their walks as well at the #52More Blog: https://thisisnotaslog.com/score-13-"

Julius, 30 July 2021, Eastbourne, Sussex, UK

4 pictures collaged on top of one another, but only slightly overlapping. In the center is a picture of the underneath of a pier, sand underneath, but shadowed on the bottom right; there are close up pictures of the joints that join different parts of the pier, one of which is covered in barnacles. The text at the bottom reads: July 30th 2021 - I walked under the supports of Eastbourne pier (Sussex, UK) at low tide, forwards and backwards, weaving in and out between the pillars, retracing my footprints and puddling through gaps across the division between light and shadow where girders connect above water and sand. The iron latticework around and above me is stoic against the drive of ruin’s bite. As a means of going out to sea without actually moving, the pier embodies notions of play and indulgence to its limit. But, it is generally framed in terms of failure, in so much as requiring continual financial investment and maintenance. The current owner has in the past articulated his concern of how to spur growth without sacrificing the overall construction to the elements. Above me, pipes and tubes feed power and water to the clutch of cafés and gift shops. The visitors live their fantasies and feel secure. But, as inevitable, the toxic mix of salt water and oxygen steadily chews its way around the land’s prosthesis while the waves punch at the network of joints. Meanwhile the seagulls are continuously circling

Laura, 31 July 2021, Cardiff, Wales

An instagram post by @pterolaur. On the right is an image of a canal with green lily pads on the water, surrounded by concrete banks. There are houses and green grass on either side. The sky is overcast. On the right, the text states "You won't find any epitaph or plaque set in the walls to say this was #Newtown, the parish of St. Pauls" and "Walked my own score (#13, final slide) today as part of @blakewalks' #52More project.

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