(*1977, UK)
Anonymous Statue, 2022
Bronze on stone pedestal
Bronze : 180 × 80 × 50 cm
Plinth : 120 × 80 × 120 cm

Bronze cast by Kunstgieterij Van Geert, Aalst
Pedestal by Natuursteen, Aalst

Anonymous Statue examines the connection between public statues and their working cousins, the commercially manufactured mannequins used in the world of retail. Both are shaped by the conditions of their age, one by being embedded in the historic practice of commemorating figures for posterity, the other through the operations of hyper-capitalism as it responds to the ever-changing demands of the fashion industry. Both are devices to elevate, embody and bestow prestige, and both claim a false neutrality. The first popular mannequins were fragile, made of wax or plaster, but now their fibreglass limbs create landfill. The prototype of Anonymous Statue was bought from a discount warehouse for second-hand mannequins. It is now rendered even more indestructible by being cast in bronze, and it is placed on a high stone pedestal in a secluded part of the Parc des Eaux-Vives. Even as a statue she is still an empty vessel, waiting for meaning to be imposed on her.