Sir Eduardo Paolozzi was born into a family of Italian immigrants near Edinburgh in 1924. When Italy declared war on Britain in 1940, like many Italian men living in Britain, Paolozzi was sent to an internment camp. He suffered the loss of his father, grandfather and uncle when the Arandora Star cruise ship, which was carrying German and Italian internees to oversees camps, sank in 1940. Paolozzi spoke of how he felt a sense of not belonging from an early age and that this developed into an artistic style free of ‘English’ traditions.

Some of the sculptures on display at YSP were commissioned by Sir Terence Conran and indicate Paolozzi’s interest in art being a normal part of people’s lives.
 
"Another interesting commission for me was working for one of my old students, Terence Conran. I wanted to make a combination between the kind of aluminium forms that were being constructed in the form of sculptures in Ipswich... I made this children’s playground entirely out of my vocabulary of aluminium forms, entirely for children to fantasise and play and hide – to do the usual things."