Cancer Research UK London Art Fair 2026
Artist Showcase
The Living Network
Cancer cells are reimagined at a microscopic level and transformed into a radiant sculptural network alive with colour, texture and energy. Each cell is individually hand-sculpted from clay and intricately painted in layers of blues, violets and metallic pigments to reveal a luminous inner structure. Raised 3-D cytoplasmic bridges connect the forms, echoing how living cells communicate and respond to one another.
Emergence
A fluid black ground sets the stage for a tumour beginning to form within the surrounding tissue. Pearlescent swathes of violet and blue move across the surface like microscopic signals, while scattered globules suggest early cellular activity. Translucent resin half-spheres—each individually painted in vibrant blues, violets, pinks and purples—are mounted to form a luminous three-dimensional tumour mass.
Immune Assault
This artwork reimagines the moment immune cells recognise and target cancer cells in culture. The large orange cancer cells and their invasive tendrils extending outward are sculpted in 3-D clay, their surfaces created using a fluid cellular technique echoing their biological texture. Surrounding them, sculpted lymphocytes—immune cells that patrol the body—activate in response to the abnormal cancer cells. The immune attack builds across multiple resin layers: flatter tendrils and lymphocytes are embedded first, a second tier rises above them, and the largest lymphocytes finally emerge from the uppermost layer. This creates a deep, immersive 3-D illusion of immune activation. Set against a dark Winsor blue and Prussian-blue ground, the work transforms a microscopic biological event into a dramatic sculptural landscape of recognition, targeting and destruction.
Mapping The Immune Response
Inspired by true human tissue imaging, this work reinterprets breast cancer through multiplex immunofluorescence—an advanced technique used to illuminate both cancer cells and the immune cells surrounding them. Misshapen islands of tumour sit within a dark, river-like matrix populated by fluorescent lymphocytes in blue, yellow, pink and purple.
