Artist Matt Lloyd and sculptor Luke Perry talk about a new installation destined for Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton.

Transcript

00:00 Okay Matt, so we're here at Luke Perry's workshop in Cradley E. Just explain mate what's going on, what this piece of work's all about.

00:08 Well this piece is for SUIT, which is the Service Users Involvement Team and they help recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.

00:19 I'm a recovering alcoholic myself. I was using this service to do art, just to help me with recovery.

00:27 And it's been amazing, these people are amazing. I now run the art class there now. Clean and sober for six months.

00:36 Fantastic.

00:37 So this is very personal for me.

00:40 So where's this going to be?

00:42 In a Chapelash island, in a roundabout.

00:45 Right.

00:46 Just trying to make these services more apparent that there's people there to help. There's a lot of people who need help.

00:55 So the idea of this project has all come from you has it Matt?

00:59 It wasn't through me, no. I was just brought on board by Luke to help him with the design.

01:05 Got you.

01:06 And it turned out I did all the design for it.

01:08 Fantastic.

01:09 And Luke just cut it out.

01:10 Fantastic.

01:11 It's amazing working with him, he's just an amazing artist.

01:14 Absolutely.

01:15 So I'm very proud of this, very personal.

01:17 So when do you think this is going to be installed then Matt? Around what time is this going to be?

01:21 In a couple of weeks time, 19th I think.

01:25 Yeah.

01:26 We're having kind of an unveiling party down there. There'll be a, you know, Bangra players and spoken word poetry.

01:35 And just showcasing the artwork. Bringing a bit of colour into Wolverhampton, which Wolverhampton needs.

01:42 Excellent. Wonderful. It's a great piece.

01:44 Thank you very much.

01:45 And I'm sure people will admire it when they see it mate.

01:48 Yes.

01:49 Fantastic work.

01:50 Thank you.

01:51 Okay Luke, so you've made this. Matt designed it and you built it.

01:56 What does it mean to you to make something like this?

01:59 I think it's incredibly important for me to be able to be useful in trying to get people's voices heard.

02:07 So Matt and the community that he represents are incredibly important, often overlooked I suppose, within our area.

02:16 And yeah, it's lovely and an honour to be able to make things to get people's voice heard.

02:24 That's important to me and that's what this is all about.