2 Jul 2009

Mother first up for 100-day 'live sculpture' in London

10:05 pm on 2 July 2009

A mother from Lincolnshire will be the first of thousands of people to stand for one hour on top of a plinth in London's Trafalgar Square as part of a 100-day "live sculpture" exercise.

One & Other is a work devised by sculptor Antony Gormley for the square's empty plinth, now a platform for temporary works of art.

The first of 2,400 people to feature in Gormley's work is Rachel Wardell, a 35-year-old housewife and mother-of-two.

Participants are chosen at random, and 14,500 people have applied so far.

"I wanted to be able to represent normal, everyday stay-at-home mums who aren't normally a feature of major artworks - to show my kids now, and when they're older, that you can do, and be part of anything, no matter how ordinary you are or feel," Ms Wardell said.

She will appear on the plinth at 9am on 6 July and will be followed at 10 am by Jason Clark, a 41-year-old nurse from Brighton.

Gormley said of his work: "In the context of Trafalgar Square with its military, valedictory and male historical statues, this elevation of everyday life to the position formerly occupied by monumental art allows us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society."