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Visitors to Corbière will be able to admire artistic mementos of local industry and nature as they approach the public toilets.
Local artist Ben Robertson is behind the new mural on the Corbière public toilets which was completed over the summer in partnership with Year 9 art students from Grainville School.
Ben, also known as BOKRA, has created many murals across Jersey – including one to mark the 200th anniversary of the RNLI at the Albert Pier lifeboat station, and another on Jersey Oak’s building on Seale Street.
Pictured: The left-hand panel of the mural focusses on the theme of shipping.
For his latest project at Corbière, the artist explained that he was given a “loose brief” to base the mural in the island and mark 150 years since Corbière Lighthouse was first lit.
With this in mind, and armed with a stack of books and folder of images, Ben created a mural that is packed with references to the area’s history.
His designs focused on three different topics with the left-hand panel representing shipping, the central panel representing tourism, and the right-hand panel representing nature.
The first section was the result of meticulous research.
“Shipping is a big part of the area of Corbière,” said Ben.
The mural panel features a shipwreck, tide tables, nautical flags spelling out the words “take heed”, a cross-section of Corbière Lighthouse, and a picture of the 1995 Channiland ferry disaster.
The passenger ferry Channiland St Malo sank while travelling from Jersey to Sark in 1995. It was carrying 300 people, but there were no fatalities.
Pictured: The central panel of the mural at Corbière represents tourism.
The middle section of the mural includes references to Corbière’s appeal as a tourist destination since the 19th century.
Ben’s design features a steam train on what is now the Railway Walk.
The crows represent the area’s name, which translates to “a place where crows gather”, the artist said.
The right-hand mural panel was inspired in part by the wildlife Ben saw over the summer whilst painting the mural.
Pictured: The right-hand mural panel was inspired in part by the wildlife Ben saw over the summer whilst painting the mural.
“A lot of information has come from being on site for six weeks,” he explained.
During that time, the artist noticed green lizards, butterflies, granite, ragwort and more – which he included in the mural.
Students from Grainville worked with Ben for six weeks to help design and create the mural.
The project was commissioned by Jersey Property Holdings.
Pictured top: The mural was unveiled on Monday 23 September. (Dave Ferguson)
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