In my humble efforts to make figurative sculpture over the years, I am more intent on achieving an overarching feeling, rather than any accurate representation. Consistent with my aim to evoke empathy, I will often work a figure together with a familiar animal so that there is already a visible connection that a viewer might relate to.

Most recently, The Guardians present a series of small groups of figures, charred and battle weary, standing united. They came out of a long working period of solitude, following catastrophic bushfires across the east coast of Australia, followed by the COVID years, and then by the worst flood in recorded history in my home town. Devastating, difficult times. At once these figures are stoic and strong, yet fragile. The environment permeates their bodies in the form of talismen and relics from the natural world giving them strength without separation while they face an unknown future. The mixed media additions are collected locally from walks or from my garden and the androgenous figures stand guard grounded on a line of local red earth or sometimes sand.