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Laurence believes that the Doncaster project has given him a whole new thought process, a different direction and extra dimension to his work – that of recording the histories of other tribes and cultures before they vanish.
www.laurenceedwardssculpture.com
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Set against the wall of the foundry studio was a shelf housing at least 20 portrait heads in wax. Laurence explained that they are part of a project in Doncaster, celebrating the mining history of the area. He has been working on the sculpture for two years now and has built a relationship with the mining communities, what are left of the 13 pit villages around Doncaster.
The idea to model portrait heads of actual miners came from Laurence’s son, who had just read a book on how Rodin created the physiognomy for his sculpture The Burghers of Calais.
It was so well received that Laurence found himself being filmed modelling three portrait heads a day while interviewing the miners for their life stories – all this being live-streamed on the internet!
Laurence related some snippets of the miners’ life stories which were full of incredible hardship and heartache, charting the demise of an industry and culture. So, what started as a celebration of mining history has also become its poignant social documentation.
Bronze portrait heads of miners