Man living in Thailand completes giant Isle of Wight map

The sculpture, which weighs over two tonnes, has tens of thousands of figures on display, with the rest stored in containers.

It has taken the brains behind the operation Julian Crosswell, and his team, over a month to complete, and was not without its challenges.

There were snakes, spiders, hornets and scorpions in the main area where he prepared the map, he previously got stung by the latter, and the team were frequently working during a heatwave, with temperatures over 40C.  

The outline is made from salvaged eucalyptus wood offcuts raised up on a clay and rock ridge.

The coastline is made from grey rocks and sand, and a wind turbine was created with the initials IOW, and sits on the site of the Vestas wind turbine factory next to the River Medina.

The creation of the map is part of his larger Youtararmy project, where – assisted by a small team – Julian aims to produce a small figure to represent every individual on planet Earth, which is ambitious to say the least.

“It is a massive project and will take many years to complete,” said Julian.

“We have made 400,000 figures so far and we will soon be breaking world records.”

You can find out more about Youtararmy on TikTok and Youtube. 

Julian says he came up with the idea for the project over a decade ago and is keen to demonstrate the sheer scale of the world’s population.

“Environmentalism and ethics are at the heart of this massive project,” said Julian.

“We have done beach clean-ups in the UK and Thailand, and we plan to do them elsewhere in the world.

Julian Crosswell with two of his 'Youtar' figures. (Image: Contributed)

“The waste materials that we collect, mostly plastics, are then incorporated into some of our figures.

“One of the unique things about this project is that, not only can we build the shapes of all kinds of islands, nations, states, regions, counties, but we can also build them using the same number of figures that there are people in each territory.

“The Isle of Wight map is the first in a long line of giant maps with the corresponding number of figures, mostly made from waste clay, to represent the actual populations in the represented geographical areas.

“I have not found anything like this at all in the rest of the world. 

“Not only is the Isle of Wight significant because it is the first huge sculpture that Youtararmy has built.

“It may well have also given me the initial idea for the whole project.

“I remember being told many years ago that all the people in the world could fit onto the Isle of Wight.

“As it happens, this is pretty much impossible, as it would involve trying to fit around 20 people onto each square metre of the Island, but the idea has always stuck with me.”

Julian was born in Reading, Berkshire, and has spent most of his years in the UK.

The map, he made at his home in Thailand, where he says the weather is better suited to clay work.