Reimagining traditional sculpture through a feminist lens, sculptor Rebecca Stevenson takes inspiration from grotesque design and the body. Working in wax, bronze, clay and plaster, she explores notions of presence, absence and transformation, reshaping the meaning that sculpture can hold.

Responding to Renaissance works including those by Donatello during her residency, watch as she gives us an insight into her process, carefully making and then ‘unmaking’ her pieces.

00:00 Inspiration from the grotesque
00:45 Creative practice
01:08 Responding to Donatello and Renaissance art
01:42 'Goliath' making process – armature, sculpting clay head, silicone rubber and plaster mould, layering molten wax
03:08 'Unmaking' the Goliath head
03:53 Female sculptors
04:17 Making wax fruits and flowers, Andrea Della Robbia
05:32 Perspective on practice

The Shifting Perspectives residency ran from October 2022 – July 2023.

See our sculpture collection: https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/scu...

Find out more about our artists in residence: https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/residencies