I was commissioned by Penguin Random House publishers to create 6 miniature sculptures of Beatrix Potter's best-loved characters. Each character comes with a modern makeover as a celebration of the 150th Anniversary since the author's birth.

The sculptures were carefully crafted to ensure continuity with not only the characters' own personality traits, but in some cases those of their original creator, in contemporary and surprising ways.

I then placed and photographed these sculptures around London...

This project was planned in collaboration with the British Red Cross for Refugee week, with the aim of highlighting the positive contributions refugees have made to British history and culture. We have focused on various iconic figures, each with their own refugee origins: 

~ Lucian Freud, Freddie Mercury, Lord Richard Rogers and Sir John Houblon~

The sixth part in the series- 'Winter Warmer' shows the resilience of the human spirit against a harsh urban environment as two homeless friends gather around an outdoor fire in Winter- their eyes and weathered faces glinting from the flames. The result is aimed at highlighting some of the struggles faced by the homeless, particularly in Winter. I wanted to do something a bit different to my previous sculptures so decided to include a real fire when shooting the photographs, which I feel creates a more life-like, dynamic viewing experience.

The fifth part in the series- 'End of the Road' is intended as a stomach-churning portrait of alcoholism.

The fourth sculpture in the series, 'A Blunt Message' attempts to use the shock factor that has often been effective in Communications against the dangers of substance abuse. The appearance and placement of this sculpture tries to highlight the dire situation that heroin addicts can end up in: The drug often becomes the main focus of their lives, with addicts regularly ending up living on the streets or forced into the sex trade to pay for the habit. These aspects are coupled with the risks of overdose or contraction/transmission of blood-borne diseases like HIV or Hepatitis from unsanitary conditions and/or sharing needles.

The third piece in my range of miniature London street sculptures. 'The temptation of Anthony' aims to show a portrayal of the relentless gluttony of a character consumed by his habitual fast food lifestyle as he lounges on a worn-out sofa, half naked and covered in chicken fat. Nonetheless he sits defiantly on his throne to await his fate.

'The Big Smoke'- The second piece in my range of miniature London street sculptures. In a similar vein to part III ('The Temptation of Anthony'), this sculpture attempts to highlight the lifestyle choices some people make and how it can both affect oneself and vicariously affect others. In this case the combination of pregnancy and smoking- and the way in which a tobacco addiction becomes a much greater problem when a baby is on the way was the inspiration behind the sculpture (although I tried to retain an element of humour with the use of a Vicky Pollard-esque character).

My first in a series of miniature clay street sculptures I have made and placed around central London. The First two photographs were done as a concept for Etch Hype clothing label (www.etchhype.com), but the words being pasted in the message on the wall are ideally interchangeable in different versions of this image.

The colour of these sculptures has been kept to a minimum (black and white) as I wanted their real impact to come from other factors such as their surroundings- (where they have been placed and what they are looking at/interacting with).