29/08/2026
Dear Mr Hou,
I’m a glass artist based in London, UK. Several years ago, I came across your extraordinary photograph of the hermit crab using a discarded doll’s head as a shell. The image really stayed with me.
Living in the UK, I regularly encounter the shocking amount of waste we leave in our environment and the impact this has on marine life. I wanted to make an artwork that made this feel real, something that confronted what our waste actually means for the creatures forced to live amongst it.
Your photograph particularly affected me. There was something almost skull-like about the discarded doll’s head, and seeing a living creature making its home inside something we had thrown away felt incredibly powerful. For me, it also suggested something about what our carelessness leaves behind for future generations and for our children.
I used the doll-headed hermit crab from your photograph as a reference within a stained-glass artwork called TRASHED. I began looking more closely into the story behind your photograph and discovered more about your conservation work on Green Island. I was really struck by the fact that this wasn’t simply an extraordinary image, it documented a real consequence of the waste we leave in our environment. That is exactly the issue I was trying to confront in TRASHED.
When I share the finished work on Instagram, I would therefore like to credit your photograph and, importantly, tell something of the story behind it and the conservation work you are doing. I hope you are happy for me to share the finished artwork in this way.
I’ve attached a photograph of TRASHED so that you can see how your photograph has been referenced within the finished piece.
Thank you for documenting something that so powerfully demonstrates the impact our waste can have on the natural world, and for the work you continue to do to highlight and address these environmental issues.
Best wishes,
Claire Denham-Smith
Sent from my iPhone
