Soar is an unusual group portrait, consisting of life sized outlines of members of Bupa International’s staff from across the world.

The brief required an abstract representation of an international network of people who work together to support the wellbeing of individuals throughout different cultures. The piece needed to be modern, uplifting and warm, and to accommodate Bupa’s core values.

Photo shoots were staged at Bupa’s offices to collect the images, which were then digitally traced in order to get the outlines. They were then laser cut from mild steel. In order to get interesting figures a specially constructed climbing frame was used to encourage the models to strike a dynamic pose. The figures were individually powder coated and then assembled in the foyer of Bupa International’s UK headquarters at Victory House in Brighton.
The appearance of the work is that it is feather light, but in order to take the substantial weight of the 31 figures a steel frame had to be constructed and inserted into the wall behind the sculpture.