I made this life-size sculpture for my degree show in 2013. Happily it was bought by the then vice chancellor of the university and became my first public sculpture. It was placed on their Chelmsford campus.

In terms of my artistic journey, this is the sculpture that most resonates with me. It came about through what felt to me like a genuinely creative enquiry into who I am, and how I relate to the world around me.

It started with questions of ‘why make art?’ – and the search for an answer led me to think I can only ever answer that from my own very personal perspective. To do that, I needed to be uncovered – literally.

In parallel, I had been thinking about how I relate to and with the world; how I am perceived, and I thought about my outside form, because that is what people see. It is also a thing that I can manipulate – by what I wear or how much I work out – but however I dress up, it is still only what I look like in a moment – it is not who I am.

I was thinking that who I am is the layers of life and experience that I have lived; the emotions I have felt; the people I know or have known. These layers of life are what make me who I am.

So I figured I need to get uncovered, and I need to show the layers.

It describes the space around my form, and in so doing, it implies my form. It also creates a barrier between the world and my form – but the form you see isn’t there. It has been cut out.

The other thing about it is the closer you look, the less you see. The way to see this sculpture is at a distance. All these elements reflect who I was at the time, and how I related to the world.

It was also the start of my journey into making layered sculptures. I am still exploring constancy and change in nature, and – for me - the layering gives an appropriate sense of impermanence.