Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu sculpture is coming to Falmouth

Two of the most recognisable men in world politics, sewn together from old cloths, stockings and pillows, are heading to Falmouth. And anyone who turns up is being asked to leave something of their own on them.

Sculptor and Royal Academician Tim Shaw is bringing Pin It On Them to The Cornish Bank in Falmouth on Friday 9 October, inviting visitors to write down their thoughts and pin them onto the work.

The installation is open from 2pm to 11pm. Entry is free, with optional tickets of £2, £5 or £10 on the door, and all ticket proceeds will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).

📷Pin It On Them by Tim Shaw at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

What the sculpture shows

The soft sculpture depicts Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in an embrace. It’s based on a press photograph of the two leaders shaking hands, with President Trump holding out his hand and Prime Minister Netanyahu clasping it with both of his.

The figures are made from old cloths, stockings and pillows sewn onto a steel framework. A loop of barbed wire circles their joined hands. Beneath them, charred clothing and a roulette wheel form a stark, unsettling base.

Tim says the piece began with that photograph, and describes the work as a response to political power, war and responsibility.

📷Pin It On Them by Tim Shaw (detail)

Why you’re being asked to pin your thoughts on them

Visitors can add their own written responses to the sculpture, building what the organisers call “a growing chorus of public voices”. Tim sees that participation as part of the work’s meaning. People are invited to respond directly, rather than simply stand back and observe.

He says The Cornish Bank is a fitting venue because of its open, democratic character.

Pin It On Them was first shown at the 2026 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, where The Contemporary Art Society named it “one of the most memorable pieces in the show”. Tim intends to take it to other venues around the UK and in other countries.

📷Man on Fire, The Imperial War Museum

If you’re going

• What: Pin It On Them, a participatory installation by Tim Shaw
• When: Friday 9 October 2026, 2pm to 11pm
• Where: The Cornish Bank, Falmouth
• Entry: Free, with optional tickets of £2, £5 or £10 on the door. No booking needed.
• Where the money goes: All ticket proceeds will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières

📷Casting a Dark Democracy

A sculptor with deep Cornish roots

Born in Belfast, Tim studied at Manchester Polytechnic before spending four years at Falmouth School of Art, from 1985 to 1989. Plenty of people in Cornwall will already have walked past his work. His major public commissions include The Rites of Dionysus at the Eden Project and The Drummer in Truro city centre, as well as The Minotaur for the Royal Opera House.

War and conflict run through much of what he makes. In 2007 he received the Kenneth Armitage Fellowship, and went on to exhibit Casting a Dark Democracy. Tank on Fire won the Threadneedle Prize in 2008.

He was elected to the Royal Academy in 2013, and is a Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors and of Falmouth University. Man on Fire, which he developed at Kenneth Armitage’s London studio, was finally cast in bronze and installed outside Imperial War Museum North in 2023. It went on to win the 2024 PSSA Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture.

Right now he’s working on large-scale wooden figures based on Ireland’s Mumming traditions, a project exploring reconciliation between communities and environmental balance.

📷Pin It On Them by Tim Shaw

📷Pin It On Them by Tim Shaw (detail)

📷Pin It On Them by Tim Shaw (detail)

📷Man on Fire

📷Pin It On Them by Tim Shaw (detail)