Art in Motion: Background Information

Juginder Lamba was born in Nairobi in January 1948. Raised in a city under British colonial rule, Lamba's childhood encounters were influenced by an international population of Africans, Asians, Americans, and Europeans. Ten years later, Juginder Lamba's family moved to India. He attended Wynberg-Allen Memorial School, a boarding school in Mussoorie, with his brothers and sister for four years. In India, he was surrounded by art and architecture in temples and other ancient monuments adorned with sculptures from a past millennium. As a participant and observer of constant ceremonies, festivals, and rituals, these scenes and colour permeated aspects of Lamba's daily life.

In the ancient myth, Icarus endeavours to fly to the sun but he is destroyed when the heat melts his wings and he falls back down to earth. The story of Icarus holds particular interest for Juginder Lamba and much of his work is influenced by its underlying concepts. This book documents the individual Icarus sculpture projects around the country and includes an introduction to the project written by Juginder Lamba.

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Icarus – Book by Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 1989 – 1990

In 1962, Juginder's family moved to England where he adjusted to a new environment and culture. It was here that Lamba began painting. At seventeen years old, Lamba learnt of the mythical story of Icarus, and incorporated themes generated by this story into his artwork. For Lamba, "Icarus… encapsulates our impulses to soar above the material conditions and narrow explanatory historicism that assigns each to his /her proper place and to seek to incorporate these impulses into new strategies for survival and new expressions of hope".

The myth of Icarus would later continue to become a major philosophical theme in Juginder Lamba's sculptures.

Lamba graduated from Lancaster University with a degree in Politics and Philosophy in 1969, and later obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from St Martins College in Lancaster. From 1974 to 1977, he co-founded and directed Earthbound Theatre, a touring performance company. In 1978, Lancaster City Council appointed Juginder Lamba as the first Town Artist.