Watch a dramatic animation from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW), created in participation with See3D Ltd. Duration: 2 mins 35 secs. (No sound.) © Crown.
Above: Y Bont (‘The Bridge’), originally in Coleg Harlech refectory, removed in 2012 for safe storage, now in care of Scene & Word. Carrara marble and blue and purple slate, 1969–70. Photographs: Robert Greetham.
This huge wall sculpture, measuring 38 ft across by 15 ft high, was commissioned by Coleg Harlech, the old Workers’ Education Authority establishment. Wrapped around three sides of a lift shaft in the canteen of a high-rise student accommodation block, the composition formed a whole but with each as an entity in itself. Jonah took as his starting point the second branch of the Mabinogi, ‘Branwen Ferch Llŷr’ (Branwen Daughter of Llyr).
Among other themes the story concerns self-sacrifice and duty to the common good. This was at the heart of the central section of the wall sculpture, where a bridge form straddles a gap, symbolising the words of the giant Bendigeidfran, king of Britain, when his expedition to Ireland to rescue his calumniated sister Branwen comes to the Shannon: “Avo Penn Bid Pont” (he who is chief, let him be a bridge). Bendigeidfran lies across the river and his army passes over him.
The bridge form unites the two contrasting halves of the wall sculpture, with organic, natural-seeming shapes to the left and hard-edged human-made patterns to the right, including a mandala, symbol of humanity’s search for unity, at the centre. The work celebrates education as a means of achieving harmony between nature and humanity, as well as the role learning plays in bettering the community – an optimistic and positive message very characteristic of the 1960s.
One of Jonah’s design sketches for Y Bont – a collage treatment, shown above in miniature – is exhibited here in the Busts, mosaics and other media gallery.
With Coleg Harlech facing closure and the accommodation block set for demolition, the sculpture was dismantled by Scene & Word in 2012 and placed into storage. Its future remains unclear. Click here for our most recent news report (2013). For earlier reports, use the ‘Y Bont’ tag at the bottom of the article.