Starting with my final University brief, and carrying on until 2009, the Model Village Project was a large multimedia undertaking, an attempt to marry political and historical themes with dystopia fiction, viewed through the medium of a model village tourist attraction.  A fake, alternate-history version of Britain was created, the police state of “Britannia”.  This setting was initially inspired by the works of George Orwell and Alan Moore, however it quickly developed its own backstory and fiction.

   The Model Village approach was chosen as these tourist attractions almost invariably portray an idealised, rose-tinted view of Britain, all steam engines and thatched cottages.  Britannia would show miniature scenes of crime, punishment, urban sprawl, dereliction, CCTV, and the other trappings of contemporary life.  The project was presented as a fake documentary, with large photos supposedly taken around this ‘real' tourist attraction, and even fake guidebooks produced to try and give it an air of authenticity.

All the miniatures were custom-built for the project, either made from scratch or modified from kits and toys, and the images were shot on various locations around the UK.  The project was very well received, and was shown as part of three group shows in northern England, and as a solo show in Birmingham.  The Model Village project has informed a great deal of work since, including a backdating of “Britannia” for the “Century Survey” Steampunk project, and as the setting for other work such as comics, and photography projects like “Happygoth”.