“A kind of person or thing rarely encountered”

This latest body of figurative sculpture echoes familiar concerns with the relationship between historical artefacts and contemporary art. Drawing on my extensive archive of plaster moulds and combining free-built elements with press moulded sections, I have created a range of collaged portraits, which reflect the complexity of otherness and identity, as well as my interest in the human-animal relationship. This recent work employs the animated references of mimetic figures such as dolls, puppets and figurines, and presents a series of portraits that suggest otherworldly beings and composite hybrid characters, which at the same time seem familiar. This ambiguity is key to the idea that human beings are not necessarily the centre of the universe even if they think they are.