Ricky Carter is well known in the East Midlands. He started performing as a living statue in 2011 and has regularly been seen on the streets of Loughborough, Leicester, and Nottingham ever since. I spoke to him on Clumber Street in May 2022. I was surprised to hear about the paint he uses to achieve his famous look.
Is it special body paint?
"No, it's just normal, like, paint. But it is decorative paint, it's not proper spray paint."
Does that have any negative effects on your skin?
"No, not really. Because it’s, it's not, it's not proper spray paint. It's like an ornamental paint for spraying ornaments."
How long does it take to apply each day?
"Half an hour... maybe 45 minutes."
What about coming off?
"I don't tend to wash it off that often. But it can take up to two hours to get it all out, especially all out my hair."
His original outfit was a glittery costume that he created to wear at Christmas. Noticing the attention he got, and inspired by the performers often seen in London, he decided to try and clear his debts by working as a living statue. He seems incredulous when I ask him what his dream job would be.
"I had two jobs in mind that I wanted to do about ten years ago. So I either wanted to be a model. Or I wanted to work in the adult entertainment industry. I went for being a still man because I wanted to do a way to make an income. But it wasn’t really… It wasn't really the path I wanted to go down in my life. I wanted to do something better."
Throughout our conversation, people stop to gawp and talk to Ricky. One tweenage lad asks for Ricky’s social media details. I get the impression that this is one of the mildest interactions Ricky’s had while working.
What's the worst thing that someone’s said to you, or done to you, on the street?
Ermmm... some homeless guy, er, some beggar in Leicester basically accused me of raping his daughter and was basically telling people that I was- That I raped his 14 year old daughter. And was basically saying, telling people that I'm a paedophile. And was basically saying, he was going to kill me. He chased me out of Leicester. And luckily I managed to get out of Leicester that night. But it was kind of a dangerous situation you know?
And why do you think he said that?
I don't know why he said that.
Have you met his daughter?
I don't know the guy, I don’t know why he said that.
So just a stranger who you've never seen before, you don’t know his daughter, started saying that about you?
Yeah.
Ricky seems to struggle with people making up stories about him, it’s been happening on Facebook too.
What kind of things are people making up?
Well the other day for example some woman made up a story. Accusing me of following her and stalking her that I'd never even met seen before. Making out that I was a stalker when I wasn’t. She don't like me because I, um… Because I posted a um- reposted a picture of her on Facebook. She didn’t like it and made up a story about me.
And why were you posting a picture of her?
Ummm... because… I had a dream about a woman with black hair. And... in my dream- and I was having a long chat with her. And I saw this woman with black hair and reposted her picture.
Okay. So you reposted someone you saw on social media saying you look like someone I saw in a dream?
Yeah. She was like, she was in her twenties.
This seemed like a strange detail for Ricky to add, but his encounter in Leicester wasn’t the first time allegations had been made against him. In his words, people on Facebook had accused him of being “a nonce”.
From pictures
and that that somebody got hold of. Who hacked into my...They
got my pass- Who I gave my
password to who were pretending to be Facebook. Got
into my Facebook account and my Twitter account and changed the passwords. And
then managed to get hold of all my pictures. And then the person pretended to
be me in my hacked account and started spreading all my pictures all over the
place.
And how did that lead to those allegations?
That
person was pretending to be me on my hacked Facebook account,
and was sending inappropriate pictures of me out to kids and talking to
them and that's what happened.
And have you been to the police about that?
I did and they told me I had to contact Facebook
and they'd sort it.
But the police aren't interested in pursuing you based on those allegations?
No.
Okay. How does that feel to you? Do you feel vindicated?
I feel um... angry. Because somebody is
ruined my reputation is basically trying to destroy my life. Trying to
get me in… Trying to make me out to be something I'm not and get me in serious
trouble from what they did.
There's no one who you think would have a reason for wanting to do that?
Not that I can think of.
As our interview draws to a conclusion, it’s Ricky’s turn to ask a question.
Do you think I'm doing the right thing? Just trying to continue doing my job?
I think if it makes you happy and it allows you to survive then-
Yeah, that's the main thing, ain't it?
-then yeah.
That I'm earning money and making sure that I'm able to survive.
Yeah, it's if it's working
for you for that, then yeah. If it’s making
you unhappy, maybe
not.
Hmmm hmmm................. OK.