Polish sculptor Robert Koenig exhibition on in London

On display are 39 works from his ‘Odyssey’ series, large-size monumental figures, carved in wood from lime trees that grew in the home village of the artist’s mother in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, south-eastern Poland.

Born in Manchester in 1951, Koenig carved most of these male and female figures during his visits to the village between 1997 and 2002.

He describes Odyssey as a search for his roots, with the figures symbolising his ancestors, and his spiritual journey following a route taken by his mother, from her home village, through Krakow, the Nazi slave labour camps in Germany during World War Two and on to the UK where she settled after the war.

Odyssey is a touring exhibition that is being continuously enlarged with figures carved from trees local to the exhibition venues.It has already been shown at York Minster and the cathedrals in Chichester, Salisbury, Portsmouth and Rochester.

One more figure will be carved at St Martin’s in the Fields during the exhibition, which is on view till 20 July. (mk/pg)

Odyssey video