A long-awaited sculpture of Mary Wollstonecraft was unveiled on Newington Green on Tuesday 10 November after a decade of fundraising from grassroots campaign group Mary on the Green.
The sculpture of ‘The Mother of Feminism’ was commissioned to celebrate Wollstonecraft’s pioneering role in the political and philosophical canon of early feminism and her activism in north London, where she created a boarding school for girls and was involved in the humanist New Unity church.
‘A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft‘ was designed by Maggi Hambling, a lauded yet sometimes controversial artist, to capture the timelessness of Wollstonecraft’s arguments and present her as an everywoman unconfined by historical dress.
Much excitement greeted the unveiling, with the organisers premiering a short film about their project online on Tuesday evening. It has already been viewed over 4,500 times.
However, Wollstonecraft’s nudity has been labelled as ”disrespectful” – with critics taking it upon themselves to cover up the sculpture with makeshift clothing upon its unveiling.
Others feel that the unconventional sculpture is fitting for the radical thinker. Local Mildmay Councillor Jenny Kay said on Twitter: “A big day in NG [Newington Green]. Visited the memorial earlier and eavesdropped on a group of teenagers debating feminism, beauty ideals and the purpose of statues.
“I think Mary Wollstonecraft would’ve liked that”.
Campaigning for women’s statues
The sculpture adds to the diversification of London’s statues – a vindication for the representation of women. There is no official list of female statues across the capital, but it is estimated that there are only 17 statues of women with approximately 265 statues overall. A staggeringly low (though not uncommon) percentage of 6% puts London at twice the national average.
Wollstonecraft’s sculpture joins 17 statues in London of celebrated women including Millicent Fawcett and Mary Seacole. But there is still more work to be done to bring equal representation to women in statues with numerous ongoing campaigns raising funds, including the following:
- The Matchgirls Memorial are raising money for a statue commemorating the Matchgirls Strike at Bryant and May in Bow.
- The Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial Committee is collecting funds to place a statue of suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst on Clerkenwell Green.
- Mary Anning Rocks is a campaign by 11-year-old fossil enthusiast Evie to fund a statue of her hero, palaeontologist Mary Anning, at Lyme Regis.
- Virginia Woolf Statue wants to place a statue of the novelist in her previous home of Richmond.
