Courage calls to Courage Everywhere – last few days at Firstsite, Colchester

Casting for the statue of Millicent Fawcett by Gillian Wearing – sans placard

A great little exhibtion of Wearing’s props and working methods for the scupture in Parliament Square – the first statue of a woman made by a woman for that imperious setting. There is a grandeur and playful power about the work, celebrating a century of suffrage and the courage of individual women, as well as one great woman.

We know of Wearing’s use of personally written placards in her street photos of real people – here she unites sculpture with narrative and even without the placard we can hear the slogan ringing in our ears.

From the exhibition at Firstsite
Clay versions of Millicent Fawcett’s head with the expression of world-weary but empathetic determination skilfully captured from a photograph (see below).

This is a dignified and thoughtful, but also cutting-edge reponse to the commission which is well documented in the exhibition. Well worth seeing.

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