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"The tortoise has its home on its back: our residents arrive on our doorstep very often with all their belongings on their backs – in a rucksack."
This summer, Durrell’s Tortoise Takeover Trail quite literally took over the island and, thanks to two generous donors, local homeless charity Sanctuary Trust featured firmly on the map.
As keen supporters of both Durrell and Sanctuary Trust, Debbie and Richard Prosser saw sponsoring a tortoise as a perfect opportunity to raise awareness for the two charities.
And when they saw local artist Lisa MacDonald’s very fitting tortoise design, which was based up at the Railway Walk, they knew it was meant to be.
Pictured: Sponsor Richard Prosser with a tortoise in the Galapagos.
Ahead of the launch of the trail, which comes to a close this week, Debbie and Lisa shared their reasons for getting involved...
Richard and I were involved with the ‘Go Wild Gorilla’ campaign and when we were invited to the launch of Tortoise Takeover we really wanted to be involved again.
It dawned on us that we could support both Durrell and Sanctuary Trust at the same time by sponsoring a tortoise for Sanctuary to raise its profile within the community and shine a spotlight on the homelessness issue in the island.
Pictured: Sponsor Debbie Prosser and artist Lisa MacDonald with Sanctuary tortoise.
The tortoise has its home on its back: our residents arrive on our doorstep very often with all their belongings on their backs – in a rucksack.
I am a trustee of Sanctuary Trust, but before I got involved I knew very little about the charity and the extent of the homeless issue in the island. Whilst a cash donation would have been helpful for the charity, with the tortoise, we can, in such a unique way, raise awareness for the longer term about what Sanctuary does and why it is so important. Richard and I donate to both Durrell and Sanctuary in other ways so this is a little different for us. It’s a lot of fun and so many people will benefit from experiencing the trail.
We regularly have discussions with people who don’t realise the scale of the homelessness in Jersey. I don’t want to use the word 'crisis' because I hope we never reach that point, but the figures show we could be heading in that direction.
Pictured: Sponsors Richard and Debbie Prosser.
By raising Sanctuary’s profile in this way, I hope people will become more aware and understanding of the issues our residents face on a daily basis. Let’s dispel the stigma which attaches to people who experience homelessness – let’s support them and treat them with respect and dignity.
When I first saw Lisa’s design it brought a tear to my eye. It was so beautiful and thoughtful and completely on message for what we hoped our tortoise would achieve. It is powerful: there’s no need for any explanation or a play on words. It was amazing on paper when we first saw it: on the tortoise it is, quite honestly, awesome! We find it very moving and we hope it will have the same impact on everyone who sees it on the trail.
Pictured: Lisa MacDonald's Sanctuary tortoise, which carries an important message about protecting our environment and highlighting the need for universal housing.
We hope the residents will like the tortoise and appreciate what we aim to achieve with it. We also hope that we will be able to encourage them to get out and about for their physical and mental well-being to see not only our tortoise but all the other amazing works of art on the trail. Just as important to me, however, is how our amazing team of support workers will feel about it. I hope they will feel proud of the tortoise and the spotlight being shone on Sanctuary Trust and the amazing work they all do.
There’s a lot to do and I want to help. Sarah Tumelty, the General Manager, leads a fantastic group of individuals who I really enjoy helping and supporting where I can. Meeting the residents and chatting to them is important to me and seeing the success our team has in turning around the lives of men in crisis is very rewarding.
I was completely captivated by the last ‘Go Wild Gorilla’ public sculpture trail that Durrell organised and, having been involved in many community art projects over the course of my career, I jumped at the chance to apply for this year’s trail. Growing up in Jersey, I have always been a huge supporter of the conservation work they do at Durrell and the zoo is one of my favourite places to visit in the island. I went there as a child, I often take my sketchbook there to take inspiration from the animals, and now I take my two young grandchildren there when they come over. It’s so great to see local organisations like Durrell collaborate with artists from Jersey and further afield and I’m so grateful to be part of this initiative.
As a painter, a lot of my work is about creating safe worlds and the things that we do instinctively to shore ourselves up when we feel vulnerable. The tortoise is a great metaphor for that, being a creature that carries its armour and home on its back, retreating into its shell when it needs to feel protected.
Words are often a great starting point for me in my artistic practice and I actually came up with the title for my design - ‘In a Beautiful World, Everyone Has a Home’ - first and then the design followed.
Pictured: Sponsor Debbie Prosser watching artist Lisa MacDonald work on her Sanctuary tortoise.
As I was creating the design, I was thinking a lot about homelessness, both for people and animals. At Durrell, they provide a safe, nurturing space for endangered species from islands around the world, often because their habitats and homes have been destroyed. Sadly, homelessness is something that anyone can experience and that’s what my design is drawing attention to. I hope that people will see my design and understand I am making a statement about how unacceptable it is for living things of all kinds not be able to access safe and adequate housing. It means so much that Sanctuary Trust connected with my design and I’m so grateful to Richard and Debbie Prosser for sponsoring my tortoise on the charity’s behalf.
My design is very vivid and eye-catching so I hope that people are drawn to it for that reason. I would love for my design to start conversations about homelessness and the environment both in Jersey and more broadly, to raise awareness about these serious and important issues. I hope the title really resonates and makes people think: ‘Yes, I want to live in a beautiful world where everyone has a home and support those who support others to find safety in difficult times.’
Pictured: A close-up of a tent on the Sanctuary Tortoise, envisioning a world where everyone has a home.
The beauty of community art projects like this is that a piece of artwork I have created can and will make a tangible difference. That alone feels incredible. I would like my work to raise further awareness and understanding of the work that the Sanctuary Trust are doing. For Durrell, I hope that the auction at the end of the summer is a huge success, supported by generous donors so that my design and other artists’ works can support their conservation work.
I do indeed! He’s a Greek Spur-Thighed Tortoise called Tuppenny, because he was purchased for a tuppence from a man in a pub in Wood Green in the 1960s. He was actually my husband’s childhood pet when he was growing up in North London.
Pictured: Lisa has a pet tortoise in real life named Tuppenny.
We can’t know for sure how old he is, but our best guess is that he’s about 70 to 80 years old! Whilst Tuppenny’s markings are no doubt less colourful than my painted tortoise for the trail, he certainly makes up for that in personality.
He climbs trees, is a notorious escapologist with an adventurous spirit and the soul of a warrior king!
Sanctuary Trust is the official charity partner of Bailiwick Express and Connect Magazine.
Sanctuary does not receive Government funding, so relies on its own fundraising efforts and donations from the public. Every little helps: a monthly standing order of £50 would go towards the cost of providing meals for one of our residents.
Click HERE to support the charity.
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