In July 2008 I was selected as the UK artist for the First International Sculpture Symposium in Cusco, Peru. 

Over a period of 2 weeks I created the 3 metre high "Cusco Pyramid", made out of bamboo, cloth, wood, stone, paper and other materials.  This artwork and several others created by artists from across the world were sited in San Blas Square.  The overall shape of my artwork reflects the mountains of the Alps and the Andes, and the 3 sides represent the children of England, Peruvian patterns and my own artworks.  

The pyramid also represents the "silver mountain" and the mines of Cerro Rico in Potosi, Bolivia, which I had recently visited.  Over 8 million people have died in the mines and children as young as 10 years still work there,  On the outside the miners worship Jesus Christ and the Madonna, but inside the mine they worship "Tio" or Satan, and each day give gifts of cigarettes, alcohol and coca leaves to over 400 "Tio sculptures", placed within the mines.  The outside of this artwork therefore represents the skirt of the Madonna, while the inside stone pyramid represents "Tio" and the lives and deaths of the people working in the mine.

I really enjoyed the company of the other artists involved, who came from Peru, Germany, Austria, Finland and the Philippines.