Undead Bod

Dead Bod is a kind of local mascot. It was painted on the side of a shed on the River Humber in the 1960s by Les "Pongo" Rood:

I came up with my "Undead Bod" design while standing in Victoria Square here in Hull on a cold January night in 2017 after watching an animation which told the story of Dead Bod.

The animation showed an injured seagull landing on a tug named The Englishman. The captain rescued it and nursed it back to health before one of the crew killed it, inspiring Les to paint the "Dead Bod".

A few months later during an exhibition of my work, I realised that the captain was my granddad, William Hopper.

My mind was blown.

I sat there amongst a pile of Undead Bod T-shirts, wondering if granddad would approve of my design.

Life. It's a funny old game, innit?