The Britannia Model Village is a long-running, and somewhat large project begun whilst I was at University, and continued since, resulting in an exhibition at Birmingham back in January.

In essence, it plays on political and dystopian themes, and is set in a future/retro Britain called "Britannia" ruled by an Imperial-type Dictatorship, and the imagery draws heavily on Orwells "1984", the graphic novel "V for Vendetta", and similar works of which I'm a fan. Its presented through with miniatures in the form of a 'Model Village' tourist attraction, so that the imagery of crime, terror, and oppresion would conflict with the sort of rose-tinted, thatched cottage nostalgia that real model villages go in for. The model village was set in Cumbria where I was studying at the time.

All the model buildings were hand built in 1/32 scale over the 2 and a half years the project was running for, all the vehicles are toys and model kits heavily modelled and repainted, and the figures all began life as 'Britains' farm and soldier figures. Propaganda posters were custom made, with photographs I took (theres some examples in my gallery). The buildings were continually modified for each set up (shot in a variety of locations in the midlands and cumbria) to make it look like the model village was a huge sprawling mass of towns and villages.

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A model of the model village, within the model village, just to mess with peoples heads a bit...