When I went to see the Mary Wollstonecraft statue yesterday, two members of the committee who chose it were also there. They were lovely and well meaning. You could see on their faces that they knew it looked awful, and that a terrible mistake had been made. When I asked why 1/
they voted for this design over the other, they looked embarrassed and said that said that it was felt the other statue - which showed Mary Wollstonecraft clothed, with a stack of books, was too ‘prosaic.’ They also thought people would criticise them for choosing the male 2/
sculptor over the female. So in other words, out of an intellectually muddled notion of equality, the committee chose the woman sculptor at all costs - regardless of the merits of the design - and prioritised perceived artistic edginess over any of the following: 3/
A) actual meaning/ impact of the statue for the average person
B) the promises made to the thousands of people who donated money for a statue OF Mary Wollstonecraft (not ‘for’)
C) the suitability of the statue for the setting (the shiny silver finish - ?!!!) 4/
It’s actually just very sad: sad for the campaign and committee who were obviously trying to do a good thing but got this very wrong; sad for the many people - men and women - who were excited about this and have been let down; sad for those who donated and now feel cheated 5/
... And finally, sad for those of us who now have the misfortune to live in such close proximity to this mad silver thing. What is to be done? I hate the idea of tearing down a statue but can’t help but feel we need to do better. Any ideas? (Ends)
One more point: for me this is a huge lesson in engaging with what’s going on in the community. I knew this statue was coming, was pleased, wanted it but I was also busy and knew ‘other people’ were campaigning for it. So, didn’t bother getting involved. Obviously, now wish I had
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