This body of work is based on the chance encounters I have witnessed in Manchester and the strange people that seem to be drawn to me as I go about my everyday routine. I came to think of these people as messengers. I related them to the city’s pigeons, the scarred and tainted messengers who get under peoples feet. I was drawn to the two separate worlds that collide in the city. The middle class ‘Pinot Grigio’ drinking office workers and the underworld of the poor and working classes.

This idea of contrasting worlds also became apparent in China Town, Manchester, especially when I heard about the massive outbreak of rats in the area. The neon lights of the restaurants attract us to the delicate cuisines that these establishments offer, but underneath this glamour there is a host of rats feeding off our waste.

The work is about finding inspiration in the oddities that appear around every corner. My ceramic pieces more than anything are amusing. Laughter is a reflex action, a way of dealing with harsh realities, but nonetheless laughter for me is one of the most important parts of my life.

The turtle with a rats head contains the recipe for turtle soup. Humour is a very British way of dealing with life’s conundrums. How dull would life be if everything was nice, everyone was nice, everywhere was clean, and no one had an unclean thought? And so these objects that I’ve brought into the world run along the theme that has been a constant throughout my work, that being the very fine line between fun and filth.

Some of the pieces contain or incorporate the stories I have been told by drunks and homeless people in the city. A lot of the objects were slip-cast from cheap ornaments and souvenirs. Things bought from pound shops or charity shops in Manchester. Turning the cheap and tacky into something precious, representing these two clashing worlds. Each object tells a story, each is individual and so although from a distance they appear to be a set of mass produced ornaments each has its own story and personality.