Anish Kapoor's Dismemberment of Jeanne d'Arc

Construction worker Mark Suter grinds the edge of the 'womb pit' hole that, along with two legs and two breasts, makes up the sculpture Photograph: Roger Bamber

Suter uses a digger to excavate the hole. 'Should be interesting,' he says of the sculpture Photograph: Roger Bamber

The hole is sprayed 'a dark, drying-blood red' Photograph: Roger Bamber

Kapoor in front of his sculpture. 'The hole makes me think of my void pieces,' he says Photograph: Roger Bamber

Adrian Knight of the arts props workshop MDM inside one of the giant 'bloodsticks' that form the sculpture's two legs Photograph: Roger Bamber

MDM, who have worked with Kapoor, Marc Quinn, the Chapman brothers and Damien Hirst, constructed the legs in their workshop Photograph: /Roger Bamber

MDM prop-maker Danny Clarke waits to connect a pair of 'bloodsticks' Photograph: Roger Bamber

A lorry delivers half of one of the sculpture's legs, made from wooden cylinders covered with polystyrene Photograph: Roger Bamber

'It didn't travel very well,' says MDM's Andy Turnbull of the leg, which has lost chunks of polystyrene on its journey, 'but we'll sort that.' Photograph: /Roger Bamber

The finished womb pit and breasts. 'I'm not making a figure – and yet I am, of course,' says Kapoor Photograph: Roger Bamber

'There have long been certain preoccupations in my work – red, a certain implied and very overt sexuality – and this is part of that language,' says Kapoor Photograph: Roger Bamber

The finished work will provide the backdrop for two performances of Rossini's Giovanna D'Arco during the Brighton festival Photograph: Roger Bamber

Adrian Knight's boots after a day working on the sculpture Photograph: Roger Bamber