Salve Regina

The idea behind this project stems in some way from my childhood in (Royal) Leamington Spa, where along the main shopping street, I was under the surveillance of Queen Victoria. Further to this, I was named directly after her, but have never really come to terms with such a regal and influential name. Through personal observation around Britain, I became aware of the prevalence / ubiquity of the Queen Victoria Statues and felt that they could be documented in some way. Through photographing from the ‘gaze’ of the statue, and not the statue itself, I hope to reveal something about the social structure of our civic environment, and the gradual displacement of some of the statues moving further out to parkland. As with much of my previous work, I am interested in the predetermined viewpoint created by others, and this is a continuation of that theme, and an exciting challenge on a moderate geographical scale in a short time span.