This book accompanies the major exhibition of work by Ron Mueck, which will be held in the Royal Scottish Academy Building in Edinburgh from 5 August to 1 October 2006. Mueck (born in Melbourne, Australia in 1958), first came to international prominence when his amazingly lifelike sculpture, Dead Dad, was shown in the Sensation exhibition in London in 1997. This homage to his recently deceased father showed the latter's dead, naked body lying on the floor. Mueck had rendered it so minutely realistic that visitors were shocked. However, in one crucially important aspect, Dead Dad was not lifelike: it was about half the size of a normal body. Looking down on it in the gallery, visitors felt rather like Gulliver in Lilliput, amazed at the sight of a miniature human being. Mueck's sculptures are all of the human figure, some smaller than lifesize, some larger. They portray us, members of the human race, as we progress from birth towards death: as babies, children, adolescents, mature adults, and