Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus

Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus

Lara Hirst

2008 Belfast Cities Edition Pound coin

‘For so much what shall we give in return?’

For three years I had been searching for a pound with this inscription, turning every coin thats passed through my hand in the hope that I might read the motto of Belfast profoundly stamped on its rim, and such that I might remove everything but these words from the object -  A token of exchange, a signifier or debt, the very unit of worth.