Loadstone (Elegy for an English Country Graveyard)
Cornelia Parker

The death of both of Parker’s parents the year prior to Intervention/Decoration threw issues of familial relationships and memorial into sharp contrast for the artist. This very personal preoccupation found an expression in what is perhaps the late Philip Larkin’s best-known poem This Be The Verse. Written in 1971 and infamous for its use of the ‘f ’ word, Larkin’s short lyric poem has entered the British oral tradition, with many people being able to recite the verse’s irreverent but incisive analysis of parental failure from memory.

For her commission in Frome, Parker drew inspiration from the town’s strong history of breakaway Christian congregations to formulate the idea of a ‘non- conformist memorial’. The artist utilised the ornamental skills of a local stonemason to carve Larkin’s poem into an unadorned piece of Blue Lias stone, traditionally used in Somerset for ledger stones and memorials. Carvedto resemble typewritten script, Loadstone had the appearance of a piece of carbon paper literally given new weight by the almost Minimalist stone. Installed directly opposite a graveyard on the walls of an ex-church school, the work created a serious challenge to break the cycle of family dysfunction from what otherwise might be simply thought of as Larkin’s misanthropic mischief-making.