Faeces or Flair: Chichester Sculpture Garners Mixed Reviews
By Calla Mitchell
Mark and Rebecca Ford, Periwinkle Shelter, 2024, Chichester.
Image courtesy of Sue England.
Faeces or flair? A newly erected public art sculpture, dubbed the Periwinkle Shelter, 2024, has sparked serious controversy amongst locals. The fifteen-foot spiral structure, a project to mark the rich coastal heritage of Bracklesham Bay, near Chichester, has instead been compared to a ‘giant poo emoji.’ Situated on the Medmerry Reserve, the 6,000 GBP ‘load of shit’ also denotes one of Europe’s largest coastal realignment schemes. In response to the uproar, Artists Mark and Rebecca Ford stated, ‘art can be controversial, and things can be ambiguous.’ In other words, although upon first sighting the façade may be smelly, the meaning of the work stretches far wider.
Visitors to the sculpture have likened it to a ‘giant poo emoji.’
Image courtesy of The Telegraph.
The sculpture’s conical design, rooted in symbolic meaning, charges the work with a distinguished historical significance. Whilst Local Resident Sally Everett, remarked that she found ‘the idea of marking the rich coastal heritage of the south coast with a giant poo emoji’ to be ‘hilarious’, the artists intentions are much more sophisticated. The structure’s design, which mimics the periwinkle, the sea snail from which the sculpture’s namesake is derived, harkens back to the Bronze Age. More specifically, the Fords’ structure recalls the snails found within a fish basket, circa 1100 BCE, found during an agricultural excavation on the reserve.
Woven from willow branches, the sculpture’s organic medium embodies its surrounding landscape of salt marshes and mudflats, recalling land artists such as Robert Smithson and Richard Long as well as themes of climate consciousness. Furthermore, this sensitive and mindful medium promotes Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘organic architecture’ philosophy; Wright’s theory advocates for harmony between humanity and the environment, utilising architecture as a language to forge the gaps. Likewise, the Periwinkle Shelter personifies the relationship between human and habitat through medium and design.
Interior ‘cloud window’ of Periwinkle Shelter.
Image courtesy of Chichester City Council.
Upon entering the organic space, the participant is invited to observe the sky through ‘cloud windows’ of silhouetted marsh hares and birds of prey. This immersive quality reminds the engager of their environment and to, as Wright instructed, ‘study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.’ Rebecca Ford also calls for introspection, specifically surrounding climate change, stating, ‘if people see the shape of a poo, maybe that’s a metaphor for what we’re doing to our coastline, just allowing poo to be spilled into it.’
Finally, the shelter also evokes its predecessor, the 1960s and 70s conceptual art movement Land Art. This involved the sole use of natural materials or of sculpting the earth itself. In a sense, the landscape becomes the artist’s paint and their hands the brush. Temporality is suggested too; unlike manufactured costly material, here the artists use raw and mutable ingredients. In reaction to this interactive process, one may be led to consider the mark they leave and our primal engagement with the earth. Could we go so far as to suggest the shelter may imply memento mori, the Christian symbolic reminder of inevitable death?
Despite its controversy, Periwinkle Shelter beckons others to immerse themselves in the local area embracing the environment’s rich history and natural beauty. In response to the poo commentary, Mark Ford invites sceptics to ‘come down to the nature reserve, sit inside the Periwinkle Shelter and make their own view of it.’ From glimpsing at your screen, what will it be for you? Faeces or flair?
Bibliography:
Telegraph Reporters. ‘Snail Sculpture that Cost £6,000 Looks Like ‘Poo Emoji’, Locals Say.’ Accessed November 27, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/19/snail-sculpture-chichester-looks-like-giant-poo-emoji/?ICID=continue_without_subscribing_reg_first
Nicholson, Savannah. ‘People Say New Chichester Sculpture Looks Like a Poo.’ Accessed November 27, 2024, https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/24731976.people-say-new-chichester-sculpture-looks-like-poo/
Kintuka, Holly. ‘Locals Fume as Council Spend £6k on Huge Snail Sculpture – Which ‘Actually Looks Like a Poo’.’ Accessed November 27, 2024, https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1977893/sculpture-giant-poo-Medmerry-Nature-Reserve