It’s pointless getting into the artistic pros and cons of Slag Alice because there are as many different views on what is, and what is not, ‘artistic’ as there are on the merits and non merits of leaving votive offerings at megalithic sites (though most Stoneheads here will say don’t do it - don’t mess with the site).
So, taking another tack, surely we should avoid spoiling or even changing the landscape in the first place; but when, out of necessity, the landscape is spoilt or changed we then try to return it to what it was; that includes filling in and making good the open cast mine here - not exacerbating that change by creating a monstrous land figure. Interestingly, after decades of transport trauma, the new Hindhead Tunnel under the Devil’s Punch Bowl will achieve just that, “...especially as the old A3 route around the Devil’s Punch Bowl is to be dug up and returned to nature once the tunnel is fully open. David Kennington, manager of Surrey Hills for the National Trust, said: “This is a hugely important reconnection of the landscape. With its steep sides, the Devil’s Punch Bowl has become a national reserve, filled with heathland, streams and wildlife.” He stressed the importance of the wildlife around the punchbowl and how it is unique to this area.”
Note, ‘a hugely important reconnection of the landscape’ - surely that’s at the heart of the issue. Sadly, it’s too late for some changes ever to be reversed. Mount Rushmore was a sacred place to the Lakota Sioux until it fell foul to Western egotism; in fact it was known by the Sioux as the ‘Six Grandfathers’ and, “...was part of the route that the Lakota leader, Black Elk, took in a spiritual journey that culminated at Harney Peak”. No more though - now busts blasted into a once sacred hillside rule. More here.
We’re usually pretty good in this country when it comes to protecting our countryside. Not always though – small field systems, along with their hedgerows and ecosystems have been ripped up, while vast acres have been planted with coniferous, environmentally unfriendly, forests. It could be far, far worse however - re: the Karanpura Valley Destruction, whole mountains in Japan bulldozed flat for ‘development', dam projects in China which wreck eco systems and the surrounding landscape, decimation of the rain forests, etc etc. We don’t need to add to all that for the sake of claiming to have the largest ‘human earth figure in the world’... do we?
