Pyramids of Porty to return despite vandalism
BEACH art organisers have vowed to rebuild on Portobello’s sands, despite their giant pyramids being wrecked within six weeks.
The residents behind the Big Things on the Beach trust, which commissioned the sand pyramids, said they would return next year to create a similar work of public art.
Scores of community volunteers helped fill sandbags to build the 13ft-high sculptures.
They were intended to stay on the seafront until November, but one has now been completely destroyed and two have been pulled down to half their original height.
The first of them was attacked by vandals before they were officially unveiled last month. Temporary safety fences were put up at the time to protect them until the official opening.
Today, Caroline Muirhead, public arts development worker for Big Things on the Beach, said the trust had decided not to rebuild the pyramids after the latest damage, which she said had been “a big disappointment”.
But she said the project had been an overwhelming success and the organisers were determined to repeat it next year.
“Two are only half as high as they were. We don’t know whether it’s vandals that have done it vindictively, or if it’s just kids who have been playing on them, but its still a big disappointment,” she said.
“The original plan was to have them up until the end of the year, but that just isn’t going to happen now.
“We’ve taken one of them away completely and the other two are just going to be left until they degrade naturally. There are no plans to rebuild them.
“It looks a bit of a mess now and we’re obviously disappointed, but the pyramids were still a big success. We had a lot of people involved with building them and they have been very popular during the time they have been on the beach.
“This isn’t going to stop us from putting on something similar on the beach next year, which we hope will be embraced just as warmly by the local community.”
Robert Gatliff, chairman of Portobello community council, added: “It is a shame that the pyramids have been attacked, because they were very popular and a talking point in Portobello.
“It seems to have happened thanks to a combination of people attacking them maliciously and young children playing on them. It’s difficult to tell which has caused the most damage.
“Obviously with public art, you want people to join in and help with building and maintaining the sculptures. I suppose sandbags are just very easy to throw about, so maybe there should have been more notices or fences put in place to protect them.
“Whatever the case, they have been really appreciated and a great success. I look forward to seeing something similar on the beach next year.”
The sandbags were sculpted into pyramids by celebrated Scottish artist Hill Jephson Robb. A total of 15,000 bags were used in the project to represent every home in Portobello, with local residents invited to fill a bag each.
Sandbags were used so that waves and the rain would not wash the pyramids away, and it was originally intended that they would be recycled when the installation was taken down in November.
