Located at Saint-Jean, not far from the Gustaf III Airport, the bronze statue Savaku, the work of the freelance graphic designer aged 27 years Guillaume Blanchard, was inaugurated on August 24, 2007. It evokes the soul of St Barth, a metaphor for the island as envisioned by the artist, representing in the same time the forces of nature, including hurricanes.
An Arawak Indian is standing on a rock, which seen from above is in the shape of the island. In his right hand he has a spear to defend his land, and he is blowing in a conch shell, which represents the cry of nature, a nature perhaps too often abused. He is accompanied by an iguana, which evokes the earth, wisdom, and patience. A pelican represents the official symbol of the island as well as air and the sea, which provides sustenance, as the people of St Barth have been fishermen since the earliest days of the island.
For Guillaume, "the stance of this simply dressed warrior shows that he is proud of his island, as meager and difficult as it was then. This little, arid rock was the richness of this Arawak, ready to defend it with his body and soul. Oriented toward the west in the direction of the setting sun, he watches the end of another day. His twilight prayer echoes like the voices of his ancestors, inviting us to contemplation and meditation. The end of daylight is nothing but the beginning of night, in an eternal cycle of renewal."
About the stamp, issued to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Central Civil Service, I wrote here.
References
Inauguration Of The Bronze Statue At The Traffic Circle Near The Airport, by Cécile Lucot - St. Barths online
Sender: Denise
Sent from Gustavia (Saint-Barthélemy / France), on 21.10.2015
Photo: Cyril Exbrayat
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