put her forward (2018)
100 years since the first British women got the vote is time for a celebration, and 100 years on it’s time for more change. It’s time for some new heroes to be unveiled in the parks, palaces and public places of England. It’s time for some new figures for the next generation to look up to.
There are 925 public statues in the UK, yet there are only 25 of non-royal, non-mythical women. There are more statues of men called John. But together, we can change all that.
Interactive theatre-makers non zero one are aiming to double the amount of statues of non-mythical, non-royal women, to be revealed across the country as part of Heritage Open Days between 6th and 16th September 2018.
nominate
So which women do you think are inspirational? Who would you nominate to inspire younger generations? Because now it’s time to put her forward.
The put her forward team have travelled across England to speak to local people and hear their nominations for living women, including those who identify as women, who should be recognised for all they do for their community. The team stood on street corners, ran workshops and gathered nominations online, to hear what you have to say about the extraordinary women in your area.
make
From these nominations, 25 women are being 3D scanned, to create state-of-the-art foot tall, sandstone printed figures, which will be unveiled locally across the Heritage Open Day weekends. To accompany the new figures, an audio artwork will be created to showcase all the nominations we receive on our journey - to show it’s not a lack of extraordinary women that has led to an imbalance of representation in the statues we have today.
unveil
You can follow the process of finding and making the new statues online at putherforward.com Featuring videos, blog posts and an online counter, so that with every single figure made the 2.7% of non-mythical, non-royal female statue balance creeps up... little by little.
To find out more about the unveilings and learn about the 25 women you put forward, visit www.putherforward.com
Introducing non zero one
non zero one creates experiences where the audience is active and vital. The artists’ group is formed of Sarah Butcher, Cat Harrison, John Hunter and Fran Miller and its work has been shown nationally and internationally since 2009. The company makes critically acclaimed live and digital interactive experiences for theatre, museums, galleries and public space, alongside an outreach programme working with groups from primary age upwards. Most recently, with let’s take a walk (Barbican, 2017), the group worked with members of the public found via workshops and call-outs to create a collection of interactive journeys recorded by the individuals themselves, taking visitors to the Barbican on unique journeys via a smartphone app. The work was installed in the Barbican for 6 months, receiving over 1,800 visitors.
“Ambitious, tech-savvy and collaborative… their work encompasses the best traits of their generation” Telegraph