A new sculpture has been installed at St Nicholas Church as the latest winner of the Liverpool Sculpture Prize. The annual award brings contemporary public art to one of the city’s most visible waterfront locations.
A new public art installation has been unveiled on the plinth of St. Nicholas Church in Liverpool. Titled "Scally," the sculpture is the latest winner of the annual Liverpool Sculpture Prize, which aims to bring contemporary art to the city's most visible spaces. The work by artist Patric Rogers depicts a mermaid-like figure and seeks to connect with the city's unique history and mythology.
"Scally is my attempt to kind of see the new folklore into Liverpool's mythology," said Rogers. "It's a take on a mermaid, or a mer-person. The city is completely filled with mermaids, very much tied to kind of empire and a time of Liverpool's history that's complicated."
The Liverpool Sculpture Prize is organized annually by the Liverpool BID Company and the Liverpool Parish Church. According to organizers, the competition is open to any sculptor working in the United Kingdom. In addition to the opportunity to exhibit their work in a prominent public setting, the winning artist receives a £2,500 prize. The successful entry is selected by a judging panel that includes the Rector of Liverpool, Father Philip Anderson.
According to Anderson, the city has a rich tradition of public sculpture, from the Epstein Liverpool Resurgent outside Lewis’s to the more recent Superlambanana. "It became a sort of icon of the city, and again with that spirit like playfulness," said Anderson. "And I think that people will take to Scally in a similar way."
Rogers noted that the sculpture is designed for people who identify with the city but feel they are on the edges of things, "someone that's tied closer to the river and closer to the stories of people on the ground."
The fish-like figure is intended to resonate with Liverpool's cultural identity. "That fish out of water is kind of like key, and Liverpool as a culture I think is built on that," Rogers explained. "We've been othered a lot as a culture, as a community, by nationally for a long time and we embrace that, and that makes us our identity." Scally will remain on the plinth at St. Nicholas Church for the next 12 months.
