Metropolitan Police break into Soho gallery Laz Emporium to find ‘distressed woman’ is art installation

Art gallery worker got surprise when Met Police forced their way into venue to ‘help’ model made of foam filler and packing tape
‘Kristina’ is named and modelled after the sister of gallery owner Steve Lazarides, who is also called Kristina
Laz Emporium
William Mata13 December 2022

Police officers broke down the doors of an art gallery owned by Banksy’s former agent to help a woman slumped over a table - to find it was a work of art.

The Met took a distress call on November 25 and rushed to Laz Emporium in Soho where they saw what looked like an unconscious woman.

But it turned out ‘Kristina’ was actually made of packing tape and foam filler, and not actually a person at all but an artwork that gallery owner Steve Lazarides had commissioned.

Mr Lazarides said: "Hannah, who was working in the gallery that day, had just locked up and gone upstairs to make a cup of tea.

Paramedics were previously called out to the gallery
Laz Emporium

"She came down to find the door off its hinges and two confused police officers!"

The realistic sculpture is by American Mark Jenkins is based on Mr Lazarides' sister, also called Kristina, and can be seen from the window that looks into the gallery.

It has reportedly caused problems before, with paramedics called out to assist ‘Kristina’ in October, Artnet News reported.

The Met said officers were called at 5.32pm on “to concerns for the welfare of a person at a locked business premises on Lexington Street”.

Half an hour later, officers forced entry to the address where they uncovered that the person was in fact a mannequin.

A statement added: “The Met has a duty of care to respond when there are welfare concerns.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in