I am truly delighted, honoured even, to be showing my recent sculpture, Bearing Witness to Things Unseen at the centre of Chichester cathedral's nave. The forms part of an exhibition curated by Jacquiline Creswell of 25 sculptors from the Royal Society of Sculptors, in an exhibition titled Together We Rise.

Entering Chichester Cathedral from the western door, you are confronted by an irregular shaped, polished black portal standing central to the nave on its flag-stone floor. Appearing as an absence of space and matter within the fabric of the cathedral, this phenomenon holds your reflection as you approach.

Walking past the reflective portal reveals its dense black surface; parallel grooves and ridges running along its length as if having been extruded. Contrasting with the flat polished western end, the eastern end is a cave-like void, a craggy cast of a boulder which is now absent. This is the shadow of an ancient rock, cast by the rising sun on the equinox.

This uncanny object has a significant human presence because of its associative height and width and the ability to see oneself reflected in the flat polished western surface. It references time: deep geological time, celestial time and human time. Consequently, it also speaks of transience and the interconnected nature of what we share with the world and, importantly, of things larger than ourselves.

For more information about the exhibition, and interviews with the artists, click HERE.

Exhibition open: 27 June - 6 September
Mon - Sat 9am-5pm
Sun - 12pm-2pm
Chichester Cathedral
West Street
Chichester
PO19 1PX
www.chichestercathedral.org.uk
info@chichestercathedral.org.uk
01243 782595

9th March

This evening, at the Science and Industry Museum Manchester, my sculpture PHYSIS will be unleashed on the public. Commissioned by Pfizer to open up a conversation about the progress treatments they have made with lung cancer, this sculpture aims to shock, fascinate and provoke inquiry in equal measure.

A long time in gestation, this participatory sculpture references a parasitic lung cancer tumour with its invasive tentacles multiplying and suffocating the pure white 'plinth' that supports it. Over the course of the exhibition the audience removes pieces of the root-like tentacles and in effect makes the cancer go into remission, helping the host body begin to breath again.

In this world, but not of this world...?
Using a digitally enlarged MRI scan of a real human lung tumour as the centre of a cancerous growth, this parasitic being has, I believe, a very beautiful form. Yet its invasive tentacles are clearly suffocating the pure white host body of the boulder which supports it.

Not only does this sculpture speak of lung cancer and the ability of humans to diminish it; through their physical interaction with the sculpture by taring away the softer tentacles, and Pfizer's advances in oncology treatments, but it also references our global relationship to planet Earth.

The interconnectedness of human life and the natural world is something I have been exploring in my work for many years - the relationship between the human and the non-human, animate and inanimate. This suffocating human cancer sits atop a pure white boulder - I don't think it is too hard to see the analogy of Humankind's relationship to planet earth as cancerous.

29th August

I am thrilled to announce that I have won a major public sculpture commission to be sited in the raw beauty of Northumberland. This 55 metre contemporary sculpture celebrates Queen Elizabeth II's service to country and her life-long dedication to The Commonwealth.

The Elizabeth Landmark will become a new cultural destination on the Ray Estate and in the north of England, benefiting the local community and economy by being a catalyst for regeneration.

Made from Corten weathering steel, this elevated slice of hillside has been inspired by the rugged and undulating landscape in which it sits. The elegant and robustly engineered aerodynamic form references the rich history of local iron ore and stone mining. Lateral fins which change in pitch and frequency as they rise up the sculpture accentuate the sense of perspective and movement, creating contrasting shadows along its 85 metre length.

Directly shaped by the topography of the hill, the delicately arched form would completely disappear if placed back into the hill beneath. The carved space left in the hillside below, which has given rise to the positive sculpture above, forms a canyon-like rock slot. To walk this from end to end will be to experience the geology of the local landscape: a walk through Deep Time itself.

The specific topography of Cold Law hill in Northumberland has directly informed not just the sculpture and the rock slot, but also the circumnavigating system of paths, which allow ever changing perspectives of the sculpture whilst walking around it. Like a reverse giant gnomon of a sundial, the sculpture points directly to the sun at its zenith on Midsummer’s day.

"To have the opportunity to design a landmark sculpture to be placed in this raw and beautiful landscape is undoubtedly a privilege and a challenge that I wholeheartedly relish. The success of the sculpture will grow from a sensitivity to land and place: born in form, material and presence from the majestic geography that supports it."

10th October
I just love this image of Being Things: like an exotic food stuff, almost ready to eat. The exhibition has a really interesting hang this year as it is in the Bishops Palace, alongside ancient architecture, furniture and portraits.

Certainly worth a look if you are new Wells:
The Bishop's Palace, Wells, Somerset, BA5 2PD
8-22 October
Open: 10am - 6pm
www.wellsartcontemporary.co.uk

4th March 2016:
The world made flesh....
An installation view of my work in the exhibition Mending Revealed which opens tomorrow at:
Allsop Gallery, Bridport Arts Centre, 9 South Street, Bridport, Dorset, DT6 3NR
Exhibition open - 10 - 4 pm, Tues - Sat, 5 March - 16 April
T: 01308 424204 - www.bridport-arts.com

24th November 2015:
Yesterday I managed take some images of the sculpture The Space Between, which I installed in May. Sited in Reading, just along the road from the mainline rail station and opposite Forbury Park, it is the welcoming landmark sculpture at the entrance to Forbury Place: a striking new office space delivered by M&G Real Estate. After installing the sculpture on a wet day in May, the surrounding groundwork, cabling and surface finishes to the public realm had to be completed which is why I waited until yesterday to take images of the finished work. For all this time the sculpture has remained wrapped, protected from the possibility of knocks and bumps. Now it is wrapped again, because work is starting on the second building which is due for completion in 2017.

I'm thrilled with the strong visual link between sculpture and building, and am eager to see it again without wrapping, fencing, and with people sitting around it. For the full background story of its making click on the Public Commission tag on this page and scroll through six news posts about the project, or take a look at the public commissions page in this website, or testimonials.