'Most adventurous expedition yet': Bow artist travels to Mongolia to capture extreme pictures in pink bear suit and overcome depression

Paul Robinson's art involves photographing a human-sized pink bear suit in extreme and remote locations, which he said has helped him overcome his depression.

From the I Used To Be A Polar Bear series (Image: LUAP)

He said the expedition in Mongolia from September 6 to 20, which involved hiking through the Altai region and going on eight-hour horse rides in temperatures of -15C, was his most challenging one yet.

From the I Used To Be A Polar Bear series (Image: LUAP)

Paul said: "The reason why I did it was [because] it was the most adventurous [one] to date. I have gone to quite extreme lengths to get my photography.

"Like when I did South America, it was 12-hour hikes up the mountain with 20 kilos of camera gear and the pink bear suit on my back.

"With this one, it was learning to ride a horse and [completing] eight-hour horse riding days up to -15 degrees centigrade. So, it's pretty extreme."

From the Pink Bear Is Coming To Town series (Image: LUAP)

The expedition was led by Megan Hine, a British survival consultant and adventurer who has worked with Bear Grylls.

The photographs Paul took will form part of his I Used To Be A Polar Bear series, which he said plays on the idea of the pink bear as a climate refugee.

He said: "The whole series explores our world and the beauty of it, suggesting that maybe it's not too late to change [the climate crisis]."

From The Pink Bear series (Image: LUAP)

Paul, also known by his artist name LUAP, has been using the pink bear suit for over a decade and said the idea came to him while he was doing cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

From the Pink Bear Is Coming To Town series (Image: LUAP)

From The Unconscious Therapy series (Image: LUAP)

He said: "I was suffering with depression quite badly and started doing CBT to resolve what was going on in my mind.

"At the time, I used to paint all these dead trees and they were representative of how I was feeling; they were all kind of cut off and isolated and quite lonely.

"The pink bear was [from] a childhood memory of myself and my parents and brother at a theme park. I basically got this costume made and then started plonking it in some of these isolated tree settings and it kind of brought some joy to the paintings."

From the I Used To Be A Polar Bear series (Image: LUAP)

He added the bear is purposely expressionless, so people can "project their emotions into the work and hopefully it enables them to relate to it more".