They took 15 years to create and have finally been unveiled.

These two hand-carved sculptures reveal more than artistic talent – they were essential therapy for the man who laboured over them.

Giles Wright, 39, has been showing off the two works, Love and Ear-Shell-Blows, at Mill View Hospital in Nevill Road, Hove.

Giles had no formal art education or training. He learned stone carving not just as a hobby but as an essential part of his recovery from years of depression.

He taught himself from scratch and knows he will probably never make a fortune out of art but he said that was not what he was interested in.

His priority has been to make sure the art is exhibited at the hospital, a specialist centre for mental health problems, so it can inspire others.

Giles said: “I am trying to establish the idea of stone carving as a therapy.

“I have asked the staff at Mill View to make sure patients know the sculptures were done by someone suffering from the same or similar problems to themselves.

“If I can achieve that and if one or two believe they can do the same, that will mean a lot.”

Giles has been carving works out of Portland Lime for years. Transporting the rock to and from his workshop at Stanmer Organics in Stanmer Park, Brighton, has cost hundreds of pounds.

He said: “I don’t have formal art training and the problems I have had in the past have meant I haven’t always been able to do the social networking or rubbing shoulders with the right people to gain real financial success.

“But I have had the kind sponsorship of the charity Mind and I am doing it for other reasons – to give mental health suffers ownership of their environment and the chance of therapy through stone-making in the future.”

Giles’s sculpture Love is a 4ft stone bench in the shape of a twisting heart and Ear- Shell-Blows is a 6ft depiction of a shell Giles found when diving near Brighton.

He said this was the one he made during a low point in his depression and mania.

He said: “It was a battle but I have won.

“In some ways it is fitting that it is a shell – I have had to break out of mine. It is also appropriate that the inner surfaces are on show too because in terms of my work, mine has been an inner journey to discover what my work truly is, what is its value and what is its place in society today.

“The same could be said for myself personally.”

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Mill View, and the hospital are thrilled to have the artwork on loan.

Joanna Stevens, the trust’s adviser for arts psychotherapies, said: “They really contribute to the environment around and within Mill View.

“Giles’s sculpture uses stone that is millions of years old and helps bring themes of stability as well as creativity and change into the hospital.”

For more information about Giles and his work, visit www.gileswright.co.uk and www.dreamstone.co.uk naomi.loomes @theargus.co.uk