Jawahar Anshur
Marc Quinn, concrete

Marc Quinn made headlines in July for his sculpture, A Surge of Power (Jen Reid), which was immediately removed by Bristol Council from the plinth newly vacated by the controversial figure of Edward Colston. Some people accused the artist of jumping on a bandwagon. Others felt it a justified and speedy contribution to the Black Lives Matter movement. Even though Quinn’s work attracted international attention, A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) was not a publicity stunt. The sculpture is part of a body of work from an artist who has a distinguished record of addressing social issues.

Quinn’s sculptures, paintings and drawings explore the relationship between art and science, humans and nature, the human body and the perception of beauty. His best-known works are Self, a cast of his head made from ten pints of his own frozen blood, and Alison Lapper Pregnant, a marble torso-bust of an artist born with no arms and shortened legs, which was exhibited on the Fourth Plinth of London’s Trafalgar Square for two years from 2005.

This beautiful portrait is part of Quinn’s 100 Heads series, a new project featuring concrete portrait busts of refugees living today. The works emphasise refugees’ strength, uniqueness and individual identities.

Born in Somalia and arriving in the UK in 2008, this woman trained to be a nurse and enjoys boxing in her free time. This is Jawahar Anshur.

www.100heads.org

Art in focus is curated by Meryl Doney

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This article was published in the September 2020 edition of Reform

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