23 Facts About Martin Firrell

Martin Firrell was born on 4 April 1963 and is a British public artist.

Martin Firrell is one of a trio of artists known for socially engaged public art practice where text is foundational and central to that practice.

Martin Firrell's work has been summarised as "art as debate".

Martin Firrell was born in Paris, France, and educated in the UK, but left school unofficially at 14 because he "had no more use for it".

Martin Firrell educated himself during his absence from school by walking and reading in the Norfolk countryside.

Martin Firrell read early 20th-century literature extensively, citing the works of Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, and the French writer Marguerite Duras as key influences on his later development.

British social historian Joe Moran suggests Martin Firrell is consequently well equipped to hijack public space with stealthily subversive declarations like 'Protest is liberty's ally'.

Martin Firrell has held that the purpose of existence is to develop the richness and meaning of lived experience, that art and culture in general should be key contributors to this central project and that their success or otherwise can be measured against this criterion.

Martin Firrell has worked with complex and influential organisations, including the Church of England and the British Army.

Martin Firrell allowed cameras to record his creative process for the first time in 2008.

The Question Mark Inside, a television documentary produced by Simon Channing Williams and Colin Burrows was first broadcast by Sky Arts 1 on 29 October 2009, and provided new insights into Martin Firrell's opinions, aims, daily life and practice.

Ten years later, Martin Firrell was the subject of a second documentary Overthrow the Social Order, directed by Oliver Guy-Watkins first broadcast by Sky Arts in New Zealand on 21 May 2018.

Martin Firrell was born in Paris, unexpectedly, on the Champs-Elysees outside what is Sephora.

The project, says Martin Firrell, is 'motivated by a desire to make life easier for people who don't fit into the usual identity "moulds"'.

Martin Firrell worked with human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell on the Remember 1967 project.

Martin Firrell orchestrated a 'Gender Think-In' based on the think-ins held by the Gay Liberation Front in the early 1970s, which looked to build progressive policies and protest actions.

Martin Firrell created five different underground environments in the Vaults under London's Waterloo Station, each dominated by a word or phrase: words stand tall as a man in pitch-blackness; the underground spaces rumble with found sound'.

Two early works point to the agenda Martin Firrell has explored extensively in mature works.

Martin Firrell has worked with large institutions that are not customarily associated with bold or controversial public statements.

Martin Firrell was Public Artist in Residence with the Household Division of the British Army in 2009, developing Complete Hero for projection onto the Guards Chapel in November 2009.

In 2008, Martin Firrell was Public Artist in Residence at St Paul's Cathedral.

The majority of Martin Firrell's works include some form of ancillary visual motif.

Martin Firrell is convinced that by using language he can meaningfully engage others in constructive dialogues to make the world more humane.