Award-winning sculptor donates artwork to Friston House Care Home

An award-winning sculptor has created a work of art inspired by his mother and the dementia she lived with in her later years, and has donated the sculpture to Barchester's Friston House Care Centre as a thank you for the care his mother received while living there.

The sculpture by Ian Campbell-Briggs, whose most recent commissions include one for the Royal Horticultural Society and another for the National Trust, is titled 'Wife-Mother-Carer' and was unveiled by the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress of Medway Cllr Steve Iles and Mrs Josie Iles on 7th October.

The sculpture is a three times life-size female head made of curvilinear lines, which allude to aspects of dementia. The name of the piece refers to his mother, Maria Teresa, who had been a nurse working with burnt fighter pilots and bomber crews of WWII, but it also refers to the female residents and carers at Friston House.

Ian’s mother, Maria Teresa led a fascinating life. Born in San Sebastián, she lived through the Biscay Campaign of the Spanish Civil War. She later lived in the French Basque Country during the German Occupation of WWII and came to England in 1953.

Ian Campbell-Briggs said: “In times where care homes are often criticized we found all the staff from administration, carers to nurses extremely efficient, conscientious and helpful. This is the reason that I am donating the sculpture to Friston House as a thank you for the care they gave to my mother and all the other wives and mothers they have cared for.”