Anthropic

Sculpture & Installation Series, 2023-2025

In the mid-19th century, engineers James Pulham and Son invented a material – a form of anthropic rock, imitating sandstone. ‘Pulhamite’ was a mixture that could be sculpted over brick and rubble, and filled out with local materials including shells, flint and other rock. This was cheap to produce and easy to install, and became popular for creating ornamental rockwork for gardens and seafronts.

The Isle of Thanet (where I grew up and have moved back to) has multiple examples of Pulhamite fascias, including large sections of Ramsgate front in particular. However, the original recipe was lost and guides to its restoration tend to treat it as an inexact science.

I have created my own anthropic rock using the colour, texture and uses of Pulham’s work as a guide, and from this produced a series of sculptures. These are based the themes of the superficiality of Pulhamite landscape, the relationship between nature and space (of gardens made of man-made stone), and the idea of what might be buried under the surface.