To All At Sea

About

A 4.5 metre wide painting panel, with a black foresail, shaped to echo the rig of the Royal Charter is sited on a coastal position near to the location of the wreck off Moelfre, EaThe painting panel is double sided. On one side is a depiction of the storm which wrecked the Royal Charter. On the other side is a depiction of a dead, calm day at sea. The two paintings will be created in Anthony Garratt’s studio over two months; the time it was supposed to take the Royal Charter to reach Liverpool, from Melbourne. ​The painting panel pivots on a central mast with each change in wind direction; effectively like a giant weather vane. It is a form of roulette as to whether the viewer can see the depiction of the calm day, or the depiction of the Royal Charter Storm; just as the weather was a form of roulette on that fateful night, before the days of weather forecasting.​​​​

With each pivot and change of direction in the wind, the painting panel communicates data to a website which each day, at 17.55, (The time of the uk shipping forecast), draws an arc representing the change in wind direction, onto a circle.

​​After two months (the time it was meant to take the Royal Charter to reach Liverpool, from Melbourne) of ‘wind arcs’ being drawn, the lines will be flattened into a musical score to be performed and recorded by concert violinist Philippa Mo, accompanying a Welsh Male Voice Choir.

Former National Poet for Wales, Gillian Clarke will write a poem about the installation which will be the lyrics for the composition.

​The performance and culmination of the installation will be on 26 October, the 160 year anniversary of the Royal Charter Storm.

In effect, the wind powers not only the viewing experience but also composes a piece of music dedicated to those who lost their lives in the storm and rescue efforts, which shall be entitled ‘To All At Sea | I Bawb Yn N Mor’.

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