Created as a tribute to the composer Benjamin Britten (1913 to 1976) this giant Scallop Shell rises from the sands of Aldeburgh in Suffolk where he Britten regularly walked. The scallop was created by a local artist Maggie Hambling who herself is a fan of Britten’s music.
The sculpture depicts two, broken, interlocking scallop shells. Words from Britten’s opera Peter Grimes are cut into the rim of the upright shell and read “I hear those voices that will not be drowned”. Maggie Hambling Hambling describes Scallop as a conversation with the sea and said, “An important part of my concept is that at the center of the sculpture, where the sound of the waves and the winds are focused, a visitor may sit and contemplate the mysterious power of the sea.”
As with our previous Sculpture In The Sand the scallop has attracted a considerable number of different opinions, including:
“hideous pile of rusting scrap metal on that beautifully desolate curve of shingle.”
“It’s hard to keep silent when one’s regular walk by the open sea has been so casually violated.”
“It’s seen as an act of sheer arrogance to place this in the middle of one of the only bits of untouched beach in the area, and a bit of coast which is very deeply loved by local people.”
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Picture copyright belongs to Rowland Shaw, Chrissylad and Public Domain Pictures from Pixabay