From an interview with Italian Elle magazine 2003
How challenging is it to make the sculptures?
Martin: The trips we make to create sculptures are all adventures if you understand adventure to mean that we set out without having a known outcome. There isn't always danger or risk involved... although there is the danger of failure of course and that's as it should be, because every failure brings with it a lesson, whether it's learning about the limits of the materials we're using or the conditions, like weather, in which we're working. This latter is one of the main considerations, working with the elements, not against them.
Philippa: Like checking the tides, which way the sun goes down, and when - that kind of thing. Learning what we can do with different materials is like developing a repertoire. Recently we moved to Wanaka in the far south of New Zealand and in winter snow and ice have become readily accessible.
Do you both work on the sculptures?
Martin: We both contribute to the creation of the sculptures. Philippa's contribution takes many forms, sometimes she finds the practical way to make something, other times she takes more of a support role. But fundamentally I take responsibility for the art and the photography. We talk about the work a lot and make decisions together about where it's leading us to. It's very rewarding to work together in this way.
Philippa: I've found it a very creative experience working together, and it calls on my practical skills in a satisfying way. It's also taken me to parts of the world I never dreamed of going to, like remote places in Madagascar where we climbed the extraordinary granite domes and walked to villages that are rarely visited. Travelling with all the camera and climbing equipment we need is quite challenging but sleeping in a tent and cooking our own food outdoors is not hardship, it's what we enjoy.
Which natural element do you most like to work with?
Martin: The element I particularly like to work with is water, and it's present in most of the work in one form or another in the wilderness locations we choose. Water is the natural element that most strikingly demonstrates nature's cycles - it falls as rain, to be taken up by the soil and the plants that grow in it, it flows in the streams to the sea, to be evaporated and absorbed by the atmosphere. It forms the polar ice caps and all the oceans which create our weather patterns. The human body is 60% water which cycles through all of us and all of life.