Welcome to the Palindrome by Bridget Jones and Linda France
Welcome to the Palindrome is a playful integration of image and language found on Newcastle University’s Hadrian Bridge.
The artwork
This Newcastle University bridge poem consists of 26 enamel panels, each printed with a single word and fitted to the existing brick fins inside the tunnel. Passing through the Hadrian Bridge from either direction, you are invited to read the words as a complete poem.
The Hadrian Bridge artwork is a collaboration between artist Bridget Jones and writer and poet Linda France and can be found in the Hadrian Bridge pedestrian tunnel linking the university campus to the Philip Robinson Library.
France said of the work, “Built in the late 1970s to early 1980s, linking the Philip Robinson Library and the new Great North Museum, the tunnel was badly in need of refurbishment. Our brief was to design an installation that could work within the existing structure.
“As people regularly approach the bridge from both directions, I knew we needed a poem that would make sense whichever end you start reading from, so I wrote a palindromic poem.
“Each panel is printed with one or two words at different levels along the length of the bridge, and each ‘verse’ is also presented in a more traditional, punctuated version on a stainless-steel plaque at the entrance. This plaque, which is clad in brushed aluminium, is coloured to match the enamel panels inside.
“Welcome to the Palindrome functions a bit like a puzzle – playful and layered. I hope it will invite repeated readings by those who use the bridge every day, as well as communicating something to those who may see it only once."
The artists
Bridget Jones is an artist working mainly in architectural glass. Her designs weave together image, pattern and colour, often evolving from prints. She has worked collaboratively with writers and other artists.
As well as artworks created from glass, Jones has also developed designs using stone, metal and textiles. Her practice also includes printmaking on paper, including series that are integral to her commissions.
Linda France is an award-winning poet. Her eight published poetry collections include notable titles Reading the Flowers and The Gentleness of the Very Tall. As part of her Writing the Climate Residency with New Writing North and Newcastle University, France collaborated on the curation of poem collectives Murmuration with artist Kate Sweeney and Dawn Chorus with filmmaker Christo Wallers.
She is the winner of The Journal Culture Awards Writer of the Year 2021 and a Society of Authors’ Cholmondeley Award.
