'The Journey'

Although easy for pub and theatergoers to miss or simply ignore, The Journey is a sculpture built by County Durham local Fenwick Lawson. It shows a moment in the local history: a group of monks carrying the body of St. Cuthbert, Durham’s patron saint, to the cathedral in 995, marking the city’s foundation.

Lawson creates art using wood and chainsaws, and the resulting sculptures are often coated in bronze. He felt his work needed to be more fulfilling, and decided to redefine it to “engage with the human condition” rather than simply making art for art’s sake. Many of his later works deal with questions of religion and humanity.

On one level, The Journey shows St. Cuthbert’s body being moved to the site of what is now the cathedral after monks fled from a Danish invasion. The grief of the monks carrying Cuthbert’s coffin from Lindisfarne is visible, a reminder of the pain involved in Durham becoming the saint’s final resting place.

Although a religious pilgrimage is an odd object to place outside a prime location for clubbing in Durham, the fact the statue is often covered in vomit and using as a public urinal on account of weekend club-goers makes it a curious addition to the surrounding Nando’s, Chiquito, and Gala Theatre. In some ways, its public but innocuous persona in a city filled with beauty is part of what makes it so fascinating.