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The artist behind the Waterfront climate change mural has unveiled a new design with the message "time is running out", after it was graffitied over the festive period.
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Local artist Ian Rolls has unveiled the new version of his ‘Climate Stripes for Jersey' mural at the Waterfront.
Originally unveiled in June 2020, the mural features 126 stripes, each representing one year from 1894 through to 2019, coloured according how much cooler or warmer the annual average air temperature was that year, compared to the 30-year average air temperature between 1971 and 2000 (11.8°C).
The new version comes a few weeks after the mural became the target of vandals sometime between Christmas and Boxing Day when climate change denying messages were painted over the stripes in bright orange paint.
Pictured: The mural was vandalised between Christmas and Boxing Day.
Ian explained that, after the mural was vandalised, all the parties involved quickly agreed that it shouldn’t just be restored to how it originally was. Instead, Ian has added new elements, including silhouettes, thought bubbles as well as symbols linked to climate change such as a wind turbine, a factory and a plane.
“I think what’s interesting now is that the mural itself has become like a conversation,” he told Express.
“The graffiti was a negative comment on what the data and the stripes represent. The fact that it can potentially scare kids was one of the comments that the graffiti stated and I think that’s really interesting in itself because I don’t think actually that the kids are the ones that are scared by climate change, I think that’s more the elderly or the people that have a vested interest in keeping things the same as they are."
Pictured: Ian wanted the mural to include "statements of solution".
He continued: “But life is not like that and, in particular climate change, is making us change.
"We have to change, and I think young people are really good at changing and adapting to the situation so I have every confidence that actually the situation can be improved but time is running out and I think that’s one thing I wanted to make clear in the mural and that’s why, right at the end, I put the hourglass as a symbol of the time running out.
“Now the conversations have to be turned into action by everybody, by ordinary people, by businesses and by governments. Together, we need to have a concerted campaign of action starting yesterday!”
Pictured: “I think what’s interesting now is that the mural itself has become like a conversation,” Ian said.
While he included symbols of things that are not so good, Ian says he didn’t want the mural to become “negative and oppressive”. He has therefore also incorporated “statements of solution” symbolised by words such as reduce, community or wild, which he says all are “ways that we can deal with these things”.
“There’s a lot to see, it’s quite dense, there’s a lot going on in it, as well as the stripes,” Ian said.
“Everything that is happening in the mural, figuratively, is made of the stripes, so they are underlying all the conversations and all the symbols to do with climate change.”
Pictured: Five security cameras have been installed above the mural.
The mural is now under watch 24/7 with five security cameras keeping an eye on it. While Ian hopes this means it won’t be vandalised again, he says he can change it again if needed.
“I think probably, I was the least upset,” he said. “When their work is destroyed or damaged, an artist can create again and hopefully do something better. Maybe the owner of the work has a different perspective on it, but I think as an artist, one likes to keep moving forward, so there’s always another way to represent something.”
CCA Galleries International has extended the dates of its ‘Handmade: Original Prints’ exhibition to give more opportunity to islanders to enjoy the series of original prints and new editions by established as well as up and coming artists, including Dan Baldwin, Lucie Bennett and Sir Peter Blake.
If you haven’t seen it already, you can enjoy it until 26 March.
Poet Jacqueline Mézec and writers Simon MacDonald and Ben Evans have joined Jersey Arts Centre’s latest initiative, ‘Scenes from a…’.
Each has written four short sketches set in a haunted house, a garden, across the road, and a bell tower, among others.
It is hoped that the commissioned online writing project will be eventually brought to the Benjamin Meaker Stage when covid restrictions are lifted.
You can read Jacqueline, Simon and Ben’s sketches, along with those of Colin Scott, Andrew Davey and Martha MacDonald, on Jersey Arts Centre’s website.
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