[25] Pockets of [Coventry]

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[25] Pockets of [Coventry] is an interactive derive and assemblage montage randomly and collaboratively generated through gifts and referrals.

The method:

I asked the framer who I bought my picture frames from where in Coventry he’d recommend I stand and hold my sign ‘name a person in a place in Coventry for me to visit.’ He said the Lady Godiva Statue at Broadgate is a busy, central spot.

A guy called Peter in the shop overheard our conversation and said he’d personally take me to Broadgate. Peter works as a postman in Coventry and knows his way around the city.

At the centre of Broadgate square is a monument to Lady Godiva, legendary for her naked horse ride through the streets of Coventry in protest against a hated tax rise instituted by her husband, Lord Leofric.

wp_20161119_17_08_07_pro Installed in the redbrick facade of Broadgate house, is a 140 year old Lady Godiva Clock. At the striking of the hour, two yellow doors with black eagles open and the figure of a naked, golden haired Godiva and horse emerge and parade across the clock face.

Before too long a peeping Tom pops up from a window above Godiva to take a gander. godiva2

After bringing me to the Godiva Statue at Broadgate Square, Peter took me wp_20161119_17_09_29_pro to meet the local Peeping Toms. One Tom can be found in a glass case in Cathedral Gate Shopping Centre.

Another, more macabre bust of Tom, roosts in a glass box above Hertford Street Shopping and depicts Peeping Tom in the throes of anguish, having wp_20161119_17_19_38_pro been struck blind as punishment for his peeping.