Morph statue aims to shape conversation around disability

With the onset of spring, a colourful new arrival has taken shape in the garden of Shooting Star House. Back in the summer of 2023, an extraordinary, free public art trail and tourist attraction came to London, with dozens of sculptures of the famous plasticine character popping up around the capital.

Morph’s Epic Art Adventure in London was the UK’s first step-free art trail of its kind, hosted by Whizz Kidz, the UK’s leading charity for young wheelchair users. After the end of the trail, Whizz Kids kindly donated one of the sculptures, Messenger Morph, to Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.

After wintering in a cocoon over the last few months, the emergence of spring (and the softening of the ground) means that it has finally been able to take its place in it’s new home in the garden at Shooting Star House, our Therapy, Outreach and Family Support centre in Hampton.

Messenger Morph was designed by two brothers, Martin and John, using their shared perspective of someone living with a disability and with someone who is disabled. Martin is a television presenter with cerebral palsy, who has used a wheelchair for his whole life. In his career Martin as hosted CBBC’s Newsround, covered two Paralympics and Commonwealth Games, and represented Scotland at wheelchair basketball. His brother John is an artist and curator from Glasgow with a background in photography, sculpture and performance.

Through the sculpture, John and Martin share their own experiences and hopes for a world where disabled people make up a large proportion of the population. To design it, they asked young wheelchair users to share their visions of a more accessible future. Their responses were reproduced on the sculpture and Morph quite literally became the messenger. They hope that the sculpture would open up conversations about inclusivity, with the hope that every young wheelchair user can have epic adventures.

This makes it a perfect fit for Shooting Star, with our goal of supporting children and young people to make magical moments – and we hope our new Morph will help other young people develop their voices in years to come.

You can follow Morph’s adventures on our social channels – @sschospices