Each month, we show you a short film that’s moved us beyond the day – meaningful stories that inspire us to pause, think and feel. 

For British portrait sculptor Rufus Martin, shaping clay is a tactile, instinctive process that slowly uncovers the hidden layers of his sitter. Animating the act of making by exploring the essence of what it means to be human, his sculptures seek to capture more than just a likeness, studying the tension between form and feeling, precision and chaos.

“What drew me to Rufus’s work was the sheer intensity held in each sculpture – these figures feel alive, almost unsettlingly so. The documentary became a journey through two creative worlds – the immediacy of the sculptor’s hand, and the haunting presence of what remains when the act is complete.”

Documenting Martin between his Dorset home and studio, director Theo Gee journeys into his personal world, his practice, and the vulnerable act of immortalising a human being through art for the short film Rufus Martin.

Approaching the project as a parallel portrait of the artist as he studies his subject, Gee translates the dialogue between artist, material, and sitter to film, in an extension of Martin’s process, mirroring the intimacy and intensity carried by his sculptures, and the energy and memories contained by his space.