Women Won’t Wheesht #BeMoreMary

Bronze sculpture

My late friend Mary Gordon, who also features in ‘The Evolution of the Witch Hunt’, passed away on the 8th March 2023 - International Women’s Day . 

She was a huge supporter of female artists (throwing every last penny she had at them - me included) and fought hard to protect women’s rights, opportunities and dignities. She, like me, loved textile art and did an enormous amount of crocheting, knitting and sewing, most often for the purpose of protest or awareness raising of certain issues.

She was utterly incensed by the ideological onslaught we are currently experiencing. 

Mary passed away from cancer of the uterine lining. For her funeral, Mary wanted a ‘Feminist party’, with celebrations, party bags and all. That sadly never happened.

She also wanted, and I quote:

“a life-sized statue of herself, lying on a bed of 25(?) cats, while knitting”. 

This wasn’t just a vanity idea of Mary’s. It was fuelled by the fact that Edinburgh, her home city, has more statues commemorating animals than women. 

And while statues are usually reserved for those that accomplished extraordinary things in a traditional sense, I feel that actually it is an extraordinary thing for a very ordinary woman to stand up to be counted and fight for those that can’t, are too afraid to, or simply don’t understand how important this fight we are in actually is.

Mary is the Everywoman representing all of us.

I’m also amused by the humorous inversion of taking what is often used as a derogatory image of middle-aged women, the “crazy cat lady”, and turning it on its head by creating a huge bronze statue that celebrates rather than denigrates.

While I am keen to stitch it into existence, I am first and foremost making steps towards creating a maquette of the design, with the intention of casting a large bronze statue from it and a limited number of smaller bronzes.

As I need to find a funding model that allows me to create this piece, as well as a place where it will finally sit after the exhibition, this will be an evolving process that I will provide updates on as I go.

I envision the sculpture to have a large plaque at it’s foot; a list of the extensive names of noteworthy women involved in this fight.

If you are interested in this part of the project, please get in touch. 

£poa

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