Meno Brain

This sculpture started as a cast using my trusty old torso, created using modroc bandages layered over cling film. As with my other busts, she took shape slowly and deliberately - body first, then brain. But this time, the focus was what’s happening inside the head.

Meno Brain is a humorous but heartfelt homage to the wild, beautiful chaos of the menopausal mind - a place where everything seems urgent, random, foggy, loud, and deeply human.

The Chaos is Real…

Side view of the sculpture’s early form: a white plaster torso cast made from modroc bandages, with clear plastic cling film still wrapped around the lower half. The unfinished torso stands on a table outdoors, drying in the sun.
Back view of the hardened plaster torso, showing a long vertical cut along the spine where the cast was split open. A Dremel rotary tool lies nearby, used to cut through the modroc shell and remove it from the mould.
The hollow torso cast reassembled and upright again, completely white and unpainted. The rough plaster surface is visible and the neck opening at the top is exposed, ready for the next stage of construction.

Like many of my sculptures, this began with a calm and careful process. Layers of modroc were applied, dried, and cut open with my Dremel to remove the cast, before being sealed and built back up from the inside out. But this time, I wasn’t after grace or glamour - I wanted raw honesty because menopause isn’t graceful. It’s gritty. It’s gluey. And it makes you feel like your head’s full of fluff, static, and misfiring fireworks.

close-up of the torso after painting. The surface is now covered in energetic strokes of colour - vibrant coral, orange and teal green with metallic gold sheen catching the light. The texture is heavily layered with the earlier scribbled text beneath

After the main construction the fun started. Layers of paint, striking titanium white was dulled down with smudges of titanium buff. Then for the ‘non’ words, the scribbles that looked like words but weren’t, much like the nonsense that sometimes comes out of a menopausal mouth, we know that we know, or used to know the words, but they’re not there, they’re lost in the depths of cotton wool and fog that are now our brains!!

Then for some colour, layers of vibrant paint in intense corals, oranges, and shimmering greens to reflect hormonal firestorms.

Profile view of the sculpture in progress, taken in the studio. The torso is fully painted in mottled greens and oranges, but now an oversized bowl-like head has been added on top. The new “brain” section is still plain white and empty inside.

To be perfectly honest, the original plan for the bust, was that it would just represent a menopausal body, with fiery hot flashes, and nonsensical words. But when she was ‘finished’ I took a step back and thought ‘No’ this lady has a story to tell, she’s not finished yet, there’s so much more to say. But what is she trying to say? Is she intending to shout or just whisper? Does she want to be seen or just fade into the background?

She wants to be seen. To be heard.

Then came the evolution of her disproportionate head which was laid opened for all to see the chaos inside!

close-up into the sculpture’s brain bowl, showcasing a wild jumble of miniature objects embedded in colourful chaos. A coiled pink measuring tape, plastic letters and numbers, a pair of neon pink lips, a tiny yellow rubber duck.

To create the ‘brain,’ I sculpted with coloured wool yarns, netting, and textured mediums. I added layers of vibrant paint in intense corals, golds, and greens to reflect hormonal firestorms. Then came the fun - tiny toys, butterflies, wires, lips, letters, numbers, and tape measures - all tangled inside this colourful mess.

Every item has meaning: the toilet sign, the tape measure, the hairdryer, the letters and numbers that mean something until they don’t. It’s a visual expression of forgetfulness, urgency, beauty, and confusion.

the sculpture’s hollow interior. The inside of the torso is coated in glossy resin, glowing with rich amber-gold tones. It looks warm and womb-like a safe glowing space that contrasts with the clutter above.

I wanted the interior of the torso to feel womb-like - warm, shiny, safe. So I sealed and varnished it in rich amber tones. It contrasts sharply with the exploding chaos of the head, because even when the world feels out of control, there’s still an inner core of wisdom and resilience.

the large bowl-shaped brain opening juts forward, packed with its colourful assortment of tiny objects, and the textured torso gleams with green, orange and gold hues. The sculpture stands proudly upright.

Displayed upright, Meno Brain is defiant. She doesn’t apologise for her mess. She embraces it. This is a portrait of transformation, hilarity, exhaustion, and survival. She is every menopausal woman who’s had to laugh or she’d scream.

And she’ll only get more fabulous with time.

I plan to add miniature gin and whiskey bottles, extra yarns, and more tangled objects to bring the chaos to an even higher pitch. A custom glass lid is being made - a final ironic flourish to try and contain something that refuses to be tamed.

• Title: Meno Brain

• Medium: Mixed media sculpture (modroc, wool, wire, toys, signage, textured mediums, found objects, varnish)

• Size:

• Year: 2025

• Signed by the artist and includes a certificate of authenticity

• The artist retains the copyright of the piece

• Finished with archival varnish for longevity

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