1000 Faces
As part of Boston Borough Council’s transformational redevelopment of the Geoff Moulder Leisure Centre and wider Rowley Road area, a new public realm plaza is being created that will link the leisure centre to the Boston College Mayflower development.
1000 Faces is led by Lincolnshire artists Emma and Giuseppe Belli, in collaboration with Transported and Boston Borough Council.
Over 2024, Emma and Giuseppe used playful, family-friendly activities to spark ideas about how art and design could enhance a space. During a series of creative consultation events held across Boston—from market stalls and college campuses to leisure centres and community spaces—local people shared their thoughts on what Rosegarth Square should offer.
Participants told us they wanted: Places to sit, relax, and reflect
Opportunities for socialising and connection
Interactive and aesthetic features that engage all age
A space that feels welcoming during the day and evening
A sense of local identity and pride
These conversations inspired the artists to think about how art could both reflect the individual stories of Boston’s residents and contribute to a shared sense of place. The carved medieval faces hidden in St Botolph’s Church—centuries-old portraits of ordinary people—offered the perfect historical echo to today’s ambitions. From this, the idea for 1000 contemporary portraits was born, being created through a variety of mediums including sculpting, photography, illustration, vinyls and etchings.
What would a contemporary version of these faces look like?
Through hands-on workshops and creative engagement, we’re inviting people of all ages to sculpt their own miniature portrait—capturing today’s community with the same spirit of quiet individuality
Our Director, Nick Jones, explains more in this video made in July 2025:
We’re aiming to co-create 1000 depictions of Boston residents for this public artwork
Soon, the public will be invited to create their portraits in several ways.
One is in a series of free workshops under the guidance of the artists and Transported team, participants will sculpt their own 3D portraits, which will then be cast using traditional and contemporary techniques.
All of the portraits are sculpted in plasticine—a beautiful, soft material that’s easy to work with, clean, and perfect for people of all ages to model their own features. Each plasticine sculpture will then be used to create a plaster mould, which gives us two options: we can either cast the portraits in wax (which can then be turned into bronze using the lost wax process), or cast directly in resin, which is more affordable and allows us to produce multiple copies. This flexibility means we can explore different types of installation—clusters of portraits, groupings in furniture or structures, or individual pieces—depending on the final space and budget. The details will be refined following advice from a foundry in Spalding.
Another way is to create portraits through traced drawings. Either with a partner or using a mirror, participants can sketch portraits using colourful pens onto clear acetate or plexiglass which is held up to the face, and then tracing their features to create a portrait.
These 2D sketches can then be digitized and used in multiple forms.
Each face will be unique—they could be playful, serious, smiling, sleepy, or stylised with beanie hats, glasses, and contemporary hairstyles. But together, these portraits will form a powerful collective artwork embedded in the new plaza: a modern version of Boston’s historical carvings, and a celebration of the people who make this town special.
The portraits can be used in 3 ways
1.
3D sculpted heads cast in bronze, placed in various configurations around the plaza.
2.
The digitized 2D drawings can be created into transfers to sandblast into various surfaces around the plaza. An example of the process can be seen in the photos below.
3.
The digitized portraits can be made into decals and vinyl to be displayed in windows around the area.
1000 Faces is all about celebrating the people of Boston — those who live, work, and shape the town every day. Alongside sculpture, drawing and other artforms, portrait photography is part of the mix, adding another layer to this portrait of a community, by the community.
In late Autumn 2025, photographer Steven Hatton of Electric Egg, took to the streets to capture the shoppers and traders in Boston’s vibrant market place and have a few informal conversations about portraiture. A big thank you to all those who took part and helped shape the outcome of their own portrait.
These portraits, like the thumb-sized carvings, carry on a long and rich tradition of documenting our local surroundings, ways and traditions through imagery – in this case photography.
In a respective project, Boston-resident Bartosz Fedkowicz has been taking photographs that showcase the multiculturalism and diversity of Boston’s residents.
“I’ve met so many amazing people during its development. When I started, I didn’t expect the Boston community to be so diverse and multicultural.”
In the same way that we look at the carvings in the Stump and learn about past times, these images too will give us a glimpse of life in Boston on a given day and moment, the people who live here and brief visual window of their stories.
There’ll be chances to see the whole collection of portraits from both project in 2026 as part of the new plaza celebrations and other Transported events, as well as online in digital form.
Just as the carved faces of St Botolph’s have watched over the town for centuries, these contemporary portraits will form a modern chorus—telling the story of who we are now.
Learn more about the wider regeneration vision at: https://www.boston.gov.uk/article/28773/Demolition-works-begin-at-Geoff-Moulder-Leisure-Centre
This project is possible thanks to a grant from the Government Levelling Up Fund, and support from Arts Council England