Avril Ward is already well-known in the Cayman Islands for her bold and vivid acrylic paintings, but recently she has been branching out into sculptures too, although it is perhaps more accurate to say she has rediscovered sculpture: “Sculpture and working in 3D is probably my favourite art form. I started sculpting again in 2008/9 after an 18 -year break,” Ms Ward commented.

The new works, which can be seen in the Ritz-Carlton gallery, are figures cast in bronze. Each one is just over a foot tall person with an elongated body who seems to be expressing a particular emotion through the shape of their body.

“All of my current sculpture series are about love and intimacy – but all kinds of love – divine love, brotherly love, friendship, love for animals, love shared between lovers etcetera. I am also not concerned with the gender, ethnicity, or persona of the figure, but only about the universal expression of love which is expressed through the positions of the body.

“That is why the faces are very vague and the body long thin and fairly androgynous with their gender often understated or indistinguishable,” she said.

Sculpture is a way Ms Ward finds of expressing human emotions more directly than her paintings:

“My painting and my sculpture are very different. My painting is generally a representation, whether realistic or otherwise, of a visual stimulus. My sculptures are totally conceptual – I am getting an idea or concept across via the body language of my figures. As an ex-modern dancer, I am able to express emotional gesture through positions of the body,” Ms Ward said.

Each sculpture expresses a different emotion in a unique way, for example,

“One of the pieces, Brother’s Keeper, is all about sharing one another’s troubles and burdens. Earth Mother Evolution is about loving oneself and growing, adapting and developing as we go through life,” Ms Ward said.