Text by Jes Fernie, May 2024 

The Porter, 2024

Creatures that stand guard at the entrance to public buildings and private houses are traditionally designed to be aggressive or imposing. But this creature is shy and unassuming.

The Porter has a tail and an ovoid-shaped head, it sits hunched with one arm held apologetically under a leg, and is of no definable gender. In keeping with the introverted nature of the work, this ceramic sculpture has been installed not at the main entrance to Risingskolen but a side entrance used by children who travel to school on bikes.

The hand-crafted sensibility of the sculpture is amplified by its earthy feel. The terracotta colour, achieved through the addition of iron to the clay, reflects the extensive, handsome brickwork of the school’s architecture. Constructed in the late 1940s, during Denmark’s post-war rebuilding frenzy, the school’s modernist, social-democratic style prioritises form and light, and ornamentation is banished. The Porter refuses this diktat and introduces an element of fantasy into the children’s daily lives.