Over the last 20 years Rebecca has been growing a globally housed collection of sculptures and drawings that sit as comfortably in private collections and gardens, as they do in public spaces. With a love of using lyrical symbolism, teamed with strong imagery, she uses sculpture to tell inspiring stories of strength through adversity which champion our innate need for freedom.
Rebecca's pieces weave together the innate strengths of those who inspire them, while holding movement, beauty, and philanthropy at their core.
Public commissions have included The Gurkha, in Folkestone town centre; for which she was shortlisted for the Marsh award for excellence in public sculpture, and The Mother and Child which was commissioned to raise awareness for a stigmatised group of Vietnamese women and children called the Lai Dai Han, which is now sited permanently in St James’s Sq, London. Rebecca has recently finished a large memorial for Nadias Initiative to mark the 10 years since the Yazidi genocide.
“Rebecca manages to make her sculptures come alive; they breathe feelings and emotion. Rebecca is able to do this because of her own deep commitment to fighting the many injustices which are the causes behind her pieces, and because she is brilliant at telling human stories through bronze."
Rt Hon Jack Straw – Foreign Secretary 2001-2005; Home Secretary 1997-2001; Lord Chancellor 2007-2010.
With an enjoyment of building a concept, teamed with an ability to create strong imagery, Rebecca creates sculptures and drawings for private collections and campaigns celebrating strength. Much of her work champions the strength and courage of women in situations where they are culturally or socially stigmatised.
Rebecca is especially interested in the notion of what it means to feel free, for women who are born into more challenging environments, and of the concept of Physis: "The determination to grow and survive", for women and girls across the world facing social and environmental hardship.
Water is a precious commodity that most of us take for granted a number of times a day. Throughout the world, hundreds of thousands of people live without such luxury, and the brunt of that burden lands on the shoulders of women and girls - literally.... For the last 16 years, I have been inspired by the strength, resilience and elegance of these women who fetch and carry water for their families and communities, often in the harshest of environments, and I am so excited to be creating a line of sculptures inspired by the incredible work of Frank Water.
Frank Water is a British charity that provides vital access to safe water for communities in rural India and Nepal
Keep updated by following Rebecca on Instagram: @rebeccahawkinssculpture