Earth to Earth Project – Started Monday the 27th of June 2009

On Monday evening I placed an unfired terracotta Moon Jar on the top of Clegyr Boia. Because it has not been fired it is very fragile and susceptible to the weather. The concept is to leave it in situe until the forces of nature have reduced it back to its natural state, clay. I will be documenting its disintegration daily.

There are cycles within nature some quick others very slow and this art work I hope illustrates one cycle as a metaphor for all. from the earth and back to the earth. Also the placing of the jar in that particular location is important, it is a way of venerating a place of significance.

Clegyr Boia is a rocky outcrop rising from the coastal plateau to the west of St Davids. Excavations in the first half of the twentieth century confirmed occupation in the Neolithic and Iron Age periods. Dated Neolithic settlements in Wales are extremely rare, but the discovery of crude huts and Neolithic round-bottomed pottery confirms occupation of this rock 5-6,000 years ago. The name Clegyr Boia also associates this outcrop with the stronghold of a sixth-century AD Irish pirate named Boia, and the potential for post-Roman occupation here adds to the rarity and importance of this enduring settlement (RCAHMW, 91-cs-0258).Extract from: Driver, T. 2007. Pembrokeshire, Historic Landscapes from the Air, RCAHMW, page 98, Figure 148. See also Figure 63.T. Driver, 28 June 2007

The location has a long and deep historic and prehistoric significance. It is also the site of a healing spring and so has a spiritual element to it. Clegyr Boia has been of great importance to humans for a least 6000 years. For me personally the site has been the seen of the finale of one of my best childhood treasure hunts when trying to catch Boia (my father) and being attacked by his men with porridge pies. Later my friend Julian and I took our telescope and for the first time saw the rings of Saturn.

The final significance is the beauty of the surroundings. by placing the Moon Jar one immediately draws attention to its location and its surroundings. This I find fascinating and it has been theoriesed that the placing of Neolithic megaliths was motivated by a desire to venerate natural places. Something I think the artist Richard Long does brilliantly.