I sculpted her from life in 2019, in Sosian in Kenya, from the back of a truck only a few feet from where she was lying. That's a rare thing and it doesn't last - I had a few hours in front of her and no more, so there was no time to labour over anything. I had to work fast and keep my eyes on her rather than the clay, taking the shape down as quickly as I could see it.

That pressure changed how I work. Sculpting at that speed pushed the surface looser and more impressionistic than I'd have made it in the studio, and the piece kept that - marks left as they fell rather than smoothed away. Looking back, those few hours did as much for my style as anything has since. The looseness isn't a decision I made afterwards; it's the record of how quickly she had to be caught.