“I
stood on a 240 million year old mountain in Africa and watched the 4.6 billion
year old sun descend below the horizon. As the light diminished, the 200
billion stars in the Milky Way began to glow in the night sky. Our galaxy
extends for 100,000 light years and is part of a universe consisting of
hundreds of billions of galaxies.

It
was at that moment I began to grasp the narrowness of consciousness, the
vastness of time and the transience of humanity.” Simon
Gudgeon

Search
for Enlightenment, by Simon Gudgeon was unveiled at Riverside Walk Garden,
Millbank, London, next to Tate Britain. The sculpture is exhibited as part of
the Westminster City of Sculpture Festival, 2010-2012. Henry Moore’s ‘Locking
Piece’ of 1963-4, sited nearby, is on loan to the Garden from Tate Britain and
the Henry Moore Foundation. The surrounding area, which is home to Tate
Britain, Chelsea College of Art & Design and the ‘Parade Ground’ outdoor
sculpture gallery, has become a site of increasing importance for visual arts
in London. After being exhibited on Millbank the sculpture was moved to a
permanent home on Carriageway Drive, outside One Hyde Park, the most
prestigious address in London.

Since
Simon Gudgeon created Search for Enlightenment in 2010, the piece has become
very meaningful to many people. A smaller version of the monumental 2.2m high
work, which is cast in bronze, was presented to the Duke of Edinburgh in 2011
for his 90th Birthday at Buckingham Palace, at the 24th Anniversary Dinner of
the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award World Fellowship