Presented at the Ionian Academy, Corfu, this lenticular print aims to restore the sculpted figure of Britannia and extend its journey beyond the story known to history. The allegorical statue of the British Isles is shown suspended over a cityscape under construction, at Tenterden Street in Mayfair, London.
Through the movement entombed in the image the artist suggests a continuation of the story of the disappeared sculpture, which once adorned a Corfiot palace. By placing Britannia in the present and returning it to public view, Taparia extends its narrative and draws on themes of historical loss. The back and forth movement of the sculpture across the sky symbolises its journey through landscape and time, while its seemingly erratic motion forecasts its eventual loss. Britannia becomes a pendulum, which measures the cyclical rise and fall of urban centres, as well as the transient interpretations that cultural objects acquire, even when they are lost or their notions devalued.