A waxwork figure appeared in Parliament Street this week which left spectators second guessing whether or not she was real.
‘Flora Statue’ is one of a series of hyper-real waxworks depicting buskers pretending to be statues.
She looks scarily life-like, with members of the public convinced she’s a real person. One man took a photo and had to return shortly after to assess whether she’d moved.
The artist, Rory Macbeth, has just started to take her around different cities in the UK, including Leeds, Liverpool, and Glasgow, as part of an experimental art organisation and to raise money for an art school he’s established.
“One of the things that we’re thinking about is that the art can raise the funding rather than going for funding from the Arts Council. The problem with that is they can withdraw the funding.
“If we can independently fund ourselves through our artwork and get stuff like this out to people, then that’s maybe more interesting than filling in a form.”
Flora Statue has her eyes closed and is draped in white clothing, flowers, and beads. She’s an artist’s proof, which is the model the artists keeps, and Rory stumbled upon her whilst looking through boxes.
He believes his figures look a lot more convincing out in the streets, rather than in museums or galleries.
“The last one I made that I sold, I sold to a place where I insisted that they only had it in the foyer, not in the actual galleries, so it’s in the public space. And then people think that she’s a person.”
Commenting on the waxworks’ interesting choice of shoes, which completely mismatched her clothing, Rory told YorkMix there was a reason behind that. “That’s one of the things that convinces people that she’s a person. It looks like a mistake, and mistakes are human.
“When they see the trainers sticking out, they always think that’s a person. That’s why that’s a really important detail.”
Rory assured Flora Statue will be making regular trips back to York. You can follow her journey on TikTok here. And check out Rory’s website here.