The Uncanny Playroom began as a series of figures, seated in a conventional pose reminiscent of the one adopted for over three thousand years by Egyptian figurines. The work evolved over many months as additions of found objects and clothing were added to the figures. A memory of a playroom school has developed into a range of connected but individual characters preoccupied within their own dream-work narrative. The sense that they may become animated when the viewer has left the building is a long-standing childhood fantasy and maybe these characters were just waiting for us all to leave in order to resume their own lives. This group of figures was first shown at the Ideas Store Whitechapel in 2010 and in 2012 it was installed in Another Room at Room Artspace’s temporary Georgian House basement larder.

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Photos by Sussie Ahlburg and James Champion