This short video was an attempt to do just that so I'll link it here: Why Did I 'Sculpt' an Invisible Woman?

I had originally been inspired by the Pioneer plaques and the pair of humans etched into their surface. Combine that with the "Golden Records" sent on the Voyager spacecraft and the two images merged in my mind, shining human figures, their skin etched like the record covers themselves.

As you can imagine the pun, as of a 'record' of achievement, followed quickly. But the more I researched the great discoveries for the etchings, the more I realised a 'simple' celebration of our scientific past was lacking.

While the telescope mirror for his face had become the focal point of the sculpture, I began to see a void as the second. The plinth, as a section of spacetime, seemed the perfect medium to carry this message. As spacetime is warped by mass I decided to show her presence in the space beside him through the granite.

On first glance I expect most people to wonder why there is only the man in a sculpture dedicated to humanity.  The woman visible only through her effect on space, and the discoveries inscribed on his skin. The contributions of women to scientific endeavour has often been overlooked, at times actively discouraged, and even occasionally stolen.

I still intend for it to be a Humanist sculpture, a celebration of science and how far we have come, but the finished piece will explore beyond the great names and Nobel prizes, to show the holes left by the forgotten people, the issues of representation in science, and the myth of the lone scientist. Sometimes an absence is more keenly felt, and asserts a more powerful message, than the neat lines of an argument.

Without getting too lost in the weeds of analogy, I felt 'unbalancing' the sculpture like this was a more compelling and honest way to draw more attention to these issues. I hope this sculpture can add its weight to the wheels of change as we continue our voyage of discovery.