I carved this tree during my one month art residency at Sachaqa Centro De Arte, San Roque De Cumbaza. It is an amazing place to think and make, in the heart of the Amazon Jungle of Peru. I wanted to create a piece of work that I could leave behind in the jungle. ‘Here’s to the Dancing Children’ will be the first sculpture that starts the sculpture trail at Sachaqa’.

I was able to carve the tree with permission; it was thought to be dead (still in the ground but with no more branches or leaves growing). At one stage of my carving I noticed a group of insects that would move around the part of the tree that had been carved. They moved together in a swarm or cloud formation, always together. I felt like they were trying to protect the tree from me.