October 22nd 2023.
Windrush descendant Willard Wigan MBE has created a unique collection of tiny figurines to celebrate Black History Month. These sculptures, so small they can fit in the eye of a needle, feature some of the most beloved figures in popular culture.
The collection includes a figurine of British soul legend Beverley Knight, painted with an eyelash. Chat show host Oprah Winfrey, Disney’s Princess and the Frog and actress Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American to win an Oscar, are also included.
In addition, Wigan has created an ‘equal balance’ statuette of cheerful black and white children sitting on a see-saw. This was inspired by Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. He has also paid tribute to the Windrush generation and the black community in general with a figurine of Usain Bolt in his ‘lightning bolt’ pose and Grammy-winning gospel singer Frederick William Hammond, crafted from plastic fibres scraped from one of his albums.
The sculptor’s creations are made through a labour-intensive process which involves slowing down his breathing in order to steady his hand movements. Wigan took six weeks to make Knight’s likeness, carving the statuette from Kevlar before making a dress from 24 carat gold and using an eyelash as a paintbrush.
The collection is dedicated to the memory of his mother, Zeta Wiggan, a Windrush generation arrival from Jamaica who settled in Birmingham. She encouraged her son a time when he struggled to read and write due to autism, which led to him being ‘written off’ at school.
‘My mum was a great inspiration to me,’ Wigan said. ‘I was written off at school and told I was a failure because autism wasn’t understood in the 60s. I knew something wasn’t quite right because I kept making little sculptures, but then my mum found who I really was. One day, she found me building houses for ants and she said, “go small and your name will get bigger”. So that journey took me to where I am today – the world’s greatest micro-artist – thanks to the encouragement from my mum.’
The collection has earnt Wigan a multitude of plaudits and two Guinness World Records in a career that he credits to his mum. Along with the world records, he would go on to receive an MBE from the late Queen and an honorary doctorate from the University of Warwick.
When creating the sculptures, Wigan works at 1,000x magnification – a level which can identify microorganisms. He works for 16 hours a day or longer and uses sellotape on his pillow at night to pick up the eyelashes he uses as paintbrushes.
‘When I create the work I don’t enjoy doing it, what I do enjoy is seeing other people’s reactions once I finish it,’ he said. ‘People should be equal, which is why I have included the see-saw with the smiles on the kids’ faces. I was brought up in a multi-racial community and this is how life should be. I don’t mention my pigmentation at all, I see myself as an artist. God gave me a gift and my mother put it on me to be the best.’
Willard Wigan MBE hopes that his sculptures will be a gift to the world, inspiring people regardless of race, colour or creed.
‘Black people’s contribution to Britain has included laying their lives down in both world wars, rebuilding the country after the war, and contributing to music, sport and culture in general,’ he said. ‘It’s a legacy that should be celebrated and I’m proud to be part of that heritage with my skills, but I want to inspire others regardless of race, colour or creed. As Martin Luther King said, “judge a man not by the colour of his skin but by the content of his character.”’
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