The Miracle of the Legs
(2009)
In 2008 I was approached by Stour Valley Arts to help Australian artist Greg Pryor to realise an idea he had conceived during his residency at King's Wood, Challock, Kent. The Miracle of the Legs was part of his King's Wood Illuminations project. It connects the ancient story of St Cosmas and St Damien, the transplanted leg from a cadaver to a living recipient, the people he met while walking King's Wood. Three local people were used as models to source the images of the legs which I was asked to carve. I was given measurements and photographs, sourced some oak and set about constructing and carving the legs of a man, a woman and a child.
From Greg's source material
Work in progress
The three legs nearing completion
All three legs were secured high up in the beech trees. Extraordinary limbs. Inosculation. Grafted. Pleached.