Simon Fujiwara, Rebekkah, 2012

“Rebekkah” by Simon Fujiwara

Simon Fujiwara‘s “Rebekkah” feeds into existing narratives within the collections at Leeds Art Gallery and helps to chart the development of life-size figure sculpture and portrait sculpture from the 19th century.

Simon Fujiwara, Rebekkah, 2012

The work is inspired by a 16 year old girl from Hackney, Rebekkah, who was one of the protagonists of the 2011 London Riots. Rebekkah was asked by Fujiwara to travel to China to take part in a unique social experiment, where her access to social media was restricted and she visited factories manufacturing the objects she aspired to own and took for granted (fashion clothing, mobile phones, flat-screen TVs).

Simon Fujiwara, Rebekkah, 2012

The trip culminated with a viewing of the Terracotta Warriors, after which Rebekkah was taken to a factory where casts were made of her body to be assembled into modern day versions of the warriors.

Simon Fujiwara, Rebekkah, 2012. Detail

Up to 100 figures were created in this assembly line technique, shifting Rebekkah to a new position: a representative of a new breed of British-born warrior and a soldier for social change. “Rebekkah” is on display from 29 January until 28 March 2014.

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