Portmeirion, Wales: One of the 23 wonders of the world; a place of unimagined beauty and exquisite taste. One man’s vision of a total environment, and one fictional structure’s additions to it. Then and there you have an eternal bedrock of human achievement; like majestic pyramids of the North. Architectural splendor with mythological infusion on top and underneath. ”The Prisoner will set you free…” An entire village dedicated to both the illusion and the breaking of the illusion. A timeless, spaceless monument to colorful human magic and philosophy. The attraction is overwhelming; almost as if I were willing to become a number to be able to remain a name – undoubtedly a man of the here and now, and one transcending external simplifications.
But… The draconian white bubble still clings to a wall, waiting to be set free to imprison and bring any culprits back. At what cost freedom? At what cost imprisonment? What does the village really represent? I wish I knew but the only thing I do know is that I never will.
No matter what… If I were to go to the end of the world in any direction, I’d still be convinced that Portmeirion is one very definite center of the universe. If nothing else, then at least the center of my own universe.
(An excerpt from my forthcoming book The Exotic Stayed At Home. Photograph by Vanessa Sinclair.)
