The Nuba Survival
I crossed a muddy field in office shoes to see if my eyes had been playing tricks: had I really seen two skeletons embracing beside a run-down barn?
John Buckley
The Nuba Survival fibreglass sculpture has been created by local artist John Buckley of the infamous ‘Headington Shark’ fame.
Visible from a distance, the couple kneel in a patch of stinging nettles beside a decaying Hammonds Farm barn, at odds with the benign Chilterns countryside and well-to-do Checkendon village, six miles west of Henley-on-Thames.
There are no directional signs or interpretation boards, I had to look up who created these figures and why they were in this Oxfordshire field. Created by John Buckley following his visit to the isolated Nuba Mountains in South Sudan, they are his response to the 30 years of war that has left communities on the brink. What he saw must have had a big impact on him, his local, picturesque rural surroundings in stark contrast to appalling suffering of the Nuba agriculturalists.
His work still calls attention to their plight
If the quirky and local is what you are interested in, keep in the loop with my weekly ‘Micro Travels with Mary’ newsletter and comment, sign up here.
Quick links
After a quarter of a century of silence, Bill Heine reveals why and how a giant shark ended up on the roof of his New High Street house.
Explore more of John Buckley’s striking work.
Read about Operation Broken Silence and the Nuba Mountains.
Enjoy the charming story of why a 19th century Maharajah felt compelled to make an extraordinary gesture to ensure a free, clean water supply to a small Chilterns community in the nearby Stoke Row.
I am keen to hear from you and especially to hear suggest about where to go next.