Tim Shaw 'Man on Fire' Wins PSSA Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture
We are thrilled to share that Tim Shaw RA’s 'Man on Fire’, which is on permanent display in the Imperial War Museum North Collection, has won the 2024 PSSA Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture.
The announcement was made at a ceremony at the Art Workers’ Guild in London, where 'Man on Fire' was recognised among an incredible shortlist, including works by Yinka Shonibare, David Blandy & Larry Achiampong, Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva and Nick Hornby.
Originally shaped by press images of a soldier engulfed in flames, leaping from his burning armoured vehicle during a riot in Basra at the height of the Iraq War, Man on Fire bears witness to the horror of war. Plaster casts of Pompeii’s inhabitants buried alive by hot ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD; the 2007 Glasgow Airport terrorist attack and misadventure into a Belfast riot (where cars and the tarmac were ablaze with collective rage) are events that have influenced the creation of this work.
Man on Fire was originally conceived in 2009 from foam and black baling plastic, with an early version exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2015 and winning The Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture. It was then reworked for over a long period of time before finally being cast into bronze at Castle Fine Art Foundry between 2021 and 2023.
Shaw says that this sculpture is as much about the sacredness of life as it is about death. It therefore needed to convey a ferocity of movement and lifeforce. He recalls ‘… a childhood memory of shopping with my mother in Belfast’s city centre, the day the IRA detonated twenty-two bombs in the space of seventy-five minutes. Friday 21stJuly, 1972 became known as ‘Bloody Friday. Pandemonium swept the city. People ran like panicked animals through the streets not knowing whether they were running away from danger or towards the next bomb.’
Elaborating on the concept behind this project Shaw explains, ‘What happened then is now a tragic, daily occurrence for thousands of people in other parts of the world. The difference is – it happens with greater magnitude and devastation – in Gaza and Ukraine particularly. Man on Fire represents not just soldiers fighting on the frontline, it is about all humanity – innocent civilians caught between warring factions who cannot escape the cruel, time-old curse of war.’
Stating that ‘Man on Fire’s journey from proposal stage to installation has been a long, complicated process, particularly because of the pandemic.’ He added ‘It’s therefore, all the more, a great honour to win this award and to know that Man on Fire stands strong and fully endorsed in the public domain.
Shaw also highlighted the work’s relevance to the turmoil and conflict of today’s world, asserting that ‘Most importantly, the work is about and dedicated to all those who suffer as a result of the horror of war; particularly the young soldier, engulfed in flames who dived to safety from his APC Warrior that day in Basra in September 2005.’
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To watch Tim Shaw talk about the ‘Man on Fire’ project at the PSSA Awards, click below:
To watch Tim Shaw receive the Award, click below: