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Aerial views dated 01/10/24 issued by David Popa of a 5,400 square meter land-art installation created by MTArt artist David Popa as it is unveiled at English Heritage’s Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire, paying homage to seven Heritage ‘Game Changers’ from across the UK as part The National Lottery’s 30th birthday celebrations. Issue date: Tuesday October 1, 2024. PA Photo. National Lottery players raise more than £30 million every week for good causes, including heritage projects linked to the Game Changers - The Eden Project, the Windrush Foundation, Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement, the London Wildlife Trust, the National Parks Authority, Pride Cymru, and Ulster Wildlife's Sea Deep initiative. Photo credit should read: David Popa/The National Lottery. NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Seven massive hands reach out and grasp the roots of a tree that thrusts its way upwards, its branches growing through Whitby Abbey’s ruined nave.
The giant land artwork - the size of four Olympic swimming pools - is revealed today as part of The National Lottery’s 30th birthday celebrations.
Perhaps best appreciated from the air, the massive tree and hands were created by renowned land artist, David Popa.
The American artist, who works with natural materials including chalk, charcoal and earth pigments, which will wash away in the rain, spraypainted the ground in and around the Abbey to create his largest piece to date.
EMBARGOED TO 0001 TUESDAY OCTOBER 1
EDITORIAL USE ONLY
Aerial views dated 01/10/24 issued by David Popa of a 5,400 square meter land-art installation created by MTArt artist David Popa as it is unveiled at English Heritage’s Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire, paying homage to seven Heritage ‘Game Changers’ from across the UK as part The National Lottery’s 30th birthday celebrations. Issue date: Tuesday October 1, 2024. PA Photo. National Lottery players raise more than £30 million every week for good causes, including heritage projects linked to the Game Changers - The Eden Project, the Windrush Foundation, Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement, the London Wildlife Trust, the National Parks Authority, Pride Cymru, and Ulster Wildlife's Sea Deep initiative. Photo credit should read: David Popa/The National Lottery. NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Last year he did three memorable floor paintings of a huge T-Rex in Utah, a Triceratops on Dorset's Jurassic Coast in southern Britain, famous for fossil collecting, and a Hatzegopteryx on a remote island in Finland.
Explaining his work previously he said his work would be impossible without the advent of drone photography, adding: “'I paint on a very large scale and the only way to see it is through the eye of a drone.”
The 5,400 square meter ‘Heritage Tree’ celebrates the achievements of seven inspiring individuals, who have achieved amazing things with the help of National Lottery funding
They include Sir Tim Smit, who transformed a clay pit in Cornwall into the world-renowned attraction Eden Project to inspire people to reconnect with the natural world.
MTArt artist David Popa puts the finishing touches on his 5,400 square meter land-art installation at English Heritage's Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire, paying homage to seven Heritage 'Game Changers' from across the UK as part The National Lottery's 30th birthday celebrations.
It also celebrates Arthur Torrington, co-founder of the Windrush Foundation, and Sandy Bremner, who is overseeing the £10m National Lottery funded initiative to transform the Cairngorms into the UK's first net zero national park.
Unveiling the installation, Sir Tony Robinson said: “Given the hugely important work of all seven, I am deeply honoured to support The National Lottery’s celebration of these extraordinary people.
"Across the spectrum of our heritage and conservation, the impact of the causes and projects championed by these Game Changers is evident - and the role The National Lottery has played in making this possible has been vital."
To mark the 30th anniversary of its first draw in 1994, The National Lottery is celebrating 30 Game Changers.
(left-right back) Heritage 'Game Changers' Arthur Torrington CBE, co-founder of the Windrush Foundation, Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of The Eden Project, Sandy Bremner, convener for the National Parks Authority, Chantelle Lindsay, presenter, Project Officer with the London Wildlife Trust and advocate for diversity and inclusivity in wildlife, (left-right front) Teresa Anderson MBE, Director of Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement, Lisa Power MBE, trailblazer for LGBTQIA+ rights and Pride Cymru volunteer, Sir Tony Robinson and Heidi McIlvenny, project leader for Ulster Wildlife's Sea Deep initiative until June 2022 at the unveiling of a 5,400 square meter land-art installation created by MTArt artist David Popa at English Heritage's Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire, paying homage to seven Heritage 'Game Changers' from across the UK as part The National Lottery's 30th birthday celebrations. Issue date: Tuesday October 1, 2024. PA Photo. National Lottery players raise more than £30 million every week for good causes, including heritage projects linked to the Game Changers - The Eden Project, the Windrush Foundation, Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement, the London Wildlife Trust, the National Parks Authority, Pride Cymru, and Ulster Wildlife's Sea Deep initiative. Photo credit should read: James Speakman/PA Media Assignments
They were nominated by members of the public with the final selection made by a panel from The National Lottery.
Since 1994, more than £8.6bn has been awarded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to support thousands of projects.
The abbey is one of the landmarks in Whitby to have benefited from The National Lottery in years gone by.
Between 1996 and 2000, English Heritage received more than £3.7m to restore and preserve Whitby Headland, including conserving the abbey.
