Micro sculptor from Wolverhampton creates miniature tribute to Covid-19 heroes
The creator of the world's smallest handmade sculptures has crafted a set of three microscopic figures to celebrate the heroic efforts of medical staff during the coronavirus pandemic.
Record-breaking artist Willard Wigan, from Wolverhampton, made the sculptures small enough to fit "comfortably inside a full stop of a newspaper".
The set of three are being donated by Willard to charities within the UK and USA to raise both money and awareness of medical staff and the Covid-19 crisis.
The first in the set is a sculpture of a nurse, holding the standard of the NHS, facing a virus character.
They are mounted upon the sharp tip of a thin hypodermic needle. The scene depicts a strong, super hero nurse, wielding a sword to fight the approaching virus.
The nurse celebrates all the medical staff that are fighting the causes of the virus, and the hypodermic needle celebrates the scientists that will finally find a path to beat it. The nurse stands at a little less than half a millimetre in height and the virus at around a quarter of a millimetre.
The second sculpture, destined for the USA, depicts a similar nurse wielding an axe protected by Captain America's shield. The final sculpture in the set, shows the virus being skewered by the hypodermic needle, the beginning of the end for Covid-19.
All these sculptures fit comfortably within the size of a full stop in standard newsprint, with room to spare, says Willard.
He said: "I feel these are my most iconic creations, and reminds people that just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean that it won’t have a huge impact.
"I have worked in the micro world since I was five years old, I hope this micro sculpture is the grain of sand that creates a tidal wave of success for the good causes they will raise money for."
Willard is no stranger to adversity, undiagnosed with both autism and dyslexia until he reached 50 years old, as a young boy he found both reading and writing did not come naturally to him.
Now in his 60s, he was told back then by school teachers that he would amount to nothing and achieve nothing.
He said: "I was used by them to demonstrate what failure would look like for being unable to read or write. So from the age of five, I decided to show the world that nothing does exist and nothing really does matter."
The Wednesfield artist's wish is to donate these sculptures "to the world", his ideal would be to see the impressions of them on a coin or stamp or for them to stand in a prominent place for all to see and appreciate, whilst raising money for charitable organisations.
