Shiny, Happy People

Images from Erin Tyner

Images from Slinkachu

I have long been obsessed by the idea of taking photos of small plastic people, having put them in real looking environments. During a recent holiday up the coast, the Pal and I went scouting along rocks at the beach, taking photos of ‘landscapes’, imagining small people climbing, hiding, and swimming in rock pools.

Like most of my odd obsessions, I have no idea where this comes from, but am heartened that I am not alone.

Erin Tyner makes stunning prints (and sells them in her etsy store!) and I adore trawling through her blog seeing her images and reading the song quotes she puts with each. Magical stuff.

And then today, I happily discovered Slinkachu via Black*Eiffel who has recently released a book called Little People in the City - The street art of Slinkachu. This is just the best thing ever – he makes real installations of little people, and leaves them in the city! Ahhh…it’s taken my whole obsession to a new level. A Times review said, 'Oddly enough, even when you know they are just hand-painted figurines, you can't help but feel that their plights convey something of our own fears about being lost and vulnerable in a big, bad city'.

This has given me lots of ideas about some public installations I've been thinking about for a while...stay tuned!