Janus is the Roman god of beginnings and endings, transitions and passageways, doorways and duality, amongst several other things. 

And he was one of my favorite sculptures in my town’s art Triennial this year, formally known as the Creative Folkestone Triennial 2021. 

High up on the East Cliff, in a little park overlooking the ocean, stood this massive head of Janus, who’s typically portrayed with two faces, one facing toward the future and the other face looking toward the past. 

That's what this artwork looked like: a gleaming white, massive head of Janus with one face looking toward the harbour and the other face looking back toward the houses on the street.

The sign next to Janus said, “It looks out to sea towards Europe and inland to England, contemplating what connects us as well as what divides us. It is made of plaster and chalk and will gradually degrade and disintegrate, reflecting the gradual erosion of the coastline as well as Folkestone’s history as a fort of England.”

And he did melt away, helped along by vandals, by the time the Triennial ended this month. A pile of white dust and plaster on the green grass. 

Memento mori, as the Stoics would say. We will all end up like Janus. And most of us live with that same duality: One part of us pondering the future, another replaying the past. 

And we’re missing this moment. The present moment.

Let's change that.

❤️

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