Iconic “chocolate orange” sculpture disappears from Corbière

Thursday 12 January 2023

The mystery behind the sudden disappearance of a popular sculpture which has been a feature of the Corbière landscape for the last three decades has been solved.

The sculpture – which has been dubbed the “granite Terry’s chocolate orange” on social media – disappeared from the heartland just before Christmas.

Jersey-born artist Emily Allchurch was commissioned by the Jersey Sculpture Trust to create the sculpture, entitled ‘Wax and Wane’, in 1995 when she was still a student.

Emily’s father, Tony Allchurch, expressed his dismay when he and his wife realised that the “feature of the landscape” which they have “been and looked at many times over the past 30 years” was gone, leaving a “bare patch of land”.

He told Express earlier this week that it was "a shame" that neither Emily or the Jersey Sculpture Trust were informed before the sculpture was removed.

Pictured: A "bare patch of land" is now left in the sculpture's place (Joanne Herbert-Corser).

Although Emily is now an internationally-acclaimed photographer, she no longer makes sculptures. He father said that this gives her Corbière creation “special historical meaning”, particularly to those who knew her then as “an emerging talent”.

Mr Allchurch described ‘Wax and Wane’ as a “landmark which everyone who passed by Corbière was intrigued by”. He explained that his daughter designed the sculpture to reflect the “competition between the natural and industrial landscape”.

“It is a sad thing to lose a piece of public art like that as there is so little across the island and especially in the countryside,” he added.

Pictured: Emily Allchurch now lives and works in Hastings as a photographer, with her artwork featured in public and private collections worldwide.

Yesterday, the mystery of the disappearance was finally solved.

Tim Liddiard, the Government's Environment Manager, explained: “The sculpture had become unsafe just before Christmas, when a couple of the concrete slabs had fallen down and a few more had become unsecure and were wobbling. We therefore needed to remove it.

"It is currently at the Natural Environment building at Howard Davis Farm."

He added that: "No final decision has been taken on what to do next and I’m now in contact with the artist.”

Mr Allchurch explained that he was “surprised” and “sad” rather than angry about the sculpture’s “abrupt” removal, adding that “more should have been done to see if it could have been repaired”. 

“We hope that it gave pleasure to the countless people who passed by”, he concluded.

Pictured top: 'Wax and Wane' before it was removed (Terri O'Donoghue).