The Long view

On the green edge of Clifton Downs, high above the city, there is a sculpture that encapsulates the strange magic of Richard Long. ‘Boyhood Line’ is a long line of rough white stones, placed along the route of a faint, narrow footpath. When Long was a boy, this was where he used to play. There are children playing here today. They pay no attention to Long’s new artwork. Already ‘Boyhood Line’ has melted into the scenery. Half a century since he rolled a snowball across these Downs, and photographed the wobbly line it left behind, it feels as though Long has come home.

Richard Long was born here, in Bristol, 70 years ago. Since the mid-Sixties he’s been making sculptures all around the world, from Alaska to Antarctica, but he’s never really left the West Country. He still lives in Bristol, and while many of his journeys have taken him to some of the wildest places on the planet, lots of others have started from his front door.