Artist's new work focuses on grief after loss of son

The artist has opened an exhibition which explores grief, addiction and mental health

An artist said producing an exhibition on the death of her teenage son was "very difficult" but allowed her to grieve "properly".

Alison Lapper's son Parys died from an accidental drug overdose in 2019 aged 19.

She told BBC Sussex: "I didn't know how else to express the pain because we are so bad at talking about death, grief, addiction and mental health."

Ms Lapper, who is known for posing nude while pregnant with Parys for a sculpture in Trafalgar Square, said losing her "precious only son" was "unexpected" and "unbearable".

Parys Lapper appeared on the BBC series Child Of Our Time in 2010

An inquest ruled Parys' death was due to an accidental overdose.

Ms Lapper said: "I will never forget when the police came round.

"Although I had been watching him deteriorate and had been trying to get him the help - I never expected that he would die."

She added: "How do you take that on board? I’m supposed to go before him, not the other way round."

The marble sculpture of Alison Lapper by Marc Quinn stood in Trafalgar Square between 2005 and 2007

Five years after his death, Ms Lapper said putting the exhibition together had been made her "grieve properly".

She said: "I can't bring him back, that's all I want to do, and obviously that’s not going to happen so this is maybe the closest I can get to that.

“I have never loved anybody or anything like I love Parys and for that to be taken away too soon is unbearable.

"There are some days I wonder how I’m still sitting here, but Parys wouldn’t want me to give up."

Ms Lapper, who has an MBE for services to art, said she wants to make people aware of the issues "more and more" young people face.

She said: "I couldn't protect him and I found that very hard."

The exhibition - Lost in Parys - opens at Worthing Museum on Saturday until 29 September.