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Three designs have been shortlisted for a Weighbridge memorial dedicated to the victims of abuse within Jersey’s care system, and islanders are being asked to share their views on their favourite.
Islanders can see the three designs at Private and Public on Phillips Street, from today to 10 October, between 10:00 and 18:00 each day.
The Jersey Care Memorial was requested by the Citizens’ Panel – a group of people with experience of the care system, working to implement the Jersey Care Inquiry report, which exposed serious failings in the childcare and fostering system from the 1940s to 2010s.
They had originally asked for a feature carrying both an apology and a butterfly emblem to be put up in the Royal Square, but those plans were later axed due to “heritage and planning constraints”.
Video: A look at the three shortlisted designs.
Earlier this year, designers, architects and engineers were invited to submit their ideas for how the public art piece should look, with a budget of £200,000 from the Care Inquiry budget.
The tender opportunity, which was extended by three months due to the pandemic, closed on 30 July with a total of eight proposals received.
The Citizens’ Panel then selected three designs, which islanders are now being invited to share their views on. In the final stage of the selection process, each design team will be asked to formally present their proposal before being interviewed by the Citizens’ Panel.
“We were delighted with the quality of the submissions we received for the Memorial competition,” a spokesperson for the Citizens’ Panel said.
“We are looking forward to the public exhibition and we will be taking the public's comments on the designs into consideration when we make our final decision.”
Pictured: The Care Memorial will be erected at the Weighbridge.
The final design, which is expected to be announced in November, will need to meet the eight ‘looking back’ criteria set out by the Citizens’ Panel, to ensure it includes an apology; honours victims and survivors; does not shock survivors and bring back memories; and, is easily accessible to the public.
It is hoped that, subject to planning permission, work to construct the memorial will begin in 2021, before being finally unveiled on Jersey Children’s Day, 3 July 2022.
“I hope that the final memorial will become a permanent focus for reflection and represent our enduring promise to Jersey’s children that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated,” the Minister for Children and Housing, Senator Sam Mézec, said.
The project has been somewhat controversial, with nearly 3,000 islanders signing a petition calling for it to be stopped.
In an official response to the petition, Senator Mézec said that whilst Ministers “understand and appreciate islanders’ concerns about the memorial”, it’s going to be “a key part” of Jersey’s response to the Care Inquiry.
Pictured: Senator Sam Mézec, the Children's Minister, urged islanders to share their views.
“There are two sides to this, there are people who feel strongly on both sides of that which makes it difficult to reconcile those two perspectives,” he commented when the public exhibition opened.
“Having an opportunity for people to come and see what this actually means, so it’s not just a concept like it was before, it’s actually what it will look like, and people may well feel differently about that once they see it, so I encourage people to come and have a look at these; and if they got issues with them still, be specific about them and explain that and we can incorporate that feedback into the process.
“I think that’ll be a much more constructive way of deciding how we move forward.”
Quizzed about which of the designs was his favourite the Minister preferred to stay mum.
“I don’t want to impose that on anyone,” he said. “I am genuinely interested in what others have got to say and most importantly, I’m interested in what people who have care experience in Jersey think about this so I hope they’ll engage with this exhibition and come and tell us their views.”
Pictured: 'The Apology' combines a seating area in the shape of the infinity symbol and two bronze figures.
David Annand lives and works in Kilmany in the Scottish county of Fife. He has been a public artist and sculptor since leaving college in the early ‘70s. He has completed several public sculpture commissions in the UK and Ireland, including a hospice and war memorials to three WW1 heroes and present day heroes.
'The Apology’ combines a seating area in the shape of the infinity symbol, which is fractured and half repaired, in the centre of which are two bronze figures representing children.
Pictured: The sculpture includes a poem from local wordsmith Juliette Hart.
Mr Annand has teamed up with local poet Juliette Hart, who has penned a poem based on her experience of being at school with children in Jersey’s care system which will be written on the sculpture.
“The figures symbolise recovery and moving forward into the future, yet look back to a past which is contained but not forgotten,” the artist said.
The poem reads as follows:
“THE CURVE OF YOUR FUTURE
we will not forget
the failure to protect
fairness must reach
repairing the circle
to restore confidence // in every curve of
your future
be safe as your truth
is believed
your voice is heard
your innocence pure”
Pictured: The monumental sculpture features 12 panels of bright translucent colour.
M+R is a collaboration between artists Neil Musson and Jono Retallick who trained at the Royal College of Art and Winchester School of Art respectively.
Their monumental sculpture features 12 panels of bright translucent colour, representing a rainbow. Light filters through the glass creating a spectrum on the ground and acting almost as a sun dial or stained-glass window, which aims to evoke thoughts about passing time.
Figures will be laminated into the glass to represent different age groups and genders.
“The aim is to unite people as a community prepared to learn from the past and move forward with positivity,” the duo said.
“The form interprets the twelve parishes of Jersey as twelve united characters standing together to make sure that human rights are upheld and that we are accountable to each other. Alternatively, it can be read as a group of friends standing together to reflect and talk.
“Bright translucent colour represents hope, celebration of life and diversity. Transparency also represents honesty and relates to the inquiry and citizens panel’s recommendations.”
Pictured: Layla May Arthur worked with Chris Romer-Lee and James Lowe of Studio Octopi for her proposal.
Local paper artist Layla May Arthur worked with Chris Romer-Lee and James Lowe of Studio Octopi for her proposal.
It features a seating area surrounded with wild flowers and planting. Overhead, is concave steel canopy Ade up of 12 segments, symbolising the 12 parishes.
Layla's artwork is cut into the segments and presents the experiences of victims and survivors through a "metaphorical journey" with the island's cliff paths as a backdrop.
"As a young person of Jersey, this project is incredibly important to me as I want to create a better future for Jersey Children,” she said.
“Working in partnership with architects Studio Octopi, we invite visitors to stand in the shadows of the past, acknowledging the failings of the Jersey government and the experiences suffered by the children of Jersey. We ask you to immerse yourselves in the shadows of their experiences so that each of you can step out into the light willing to take an active approach to protecting the future children of Jersey.
“I hope that this memorial can act as a promise, that we as a collective people of Jersey take responsibility together to never let this happen again. "
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