Name/TitlePrint: Mary Barbour Monument
About this objectFramed etching titled 'Mary Barbour Monument: A Proposal' by Glasgow artist Sharon Thomas.
MakerThomas, Sharon
Maker RoleArtist
Date Made2012
Period2010s
Place MadeScotland, Glasgow
Inscription and MarksEditioned, titled and signed in pencil by artist
TechniqueCollage
TechniqueEtching
MeasurementsH: 480 x W: 870 mm
Subject and Association KeywordsStrike action
Subject and Association Keywords21 Revolutions
Subject and Association KeywordsContemporary art
Subject and Association DescriptionPart of 21 Revolutions project:
https://womenslibrary.org.uk/discover-our-projects/21-revolutions
https://sharonthomas.co.uk/work/mary-barbour:
Mary Barbour Monument: A Proposal is a limited edition print and body of research developed between 2011 and 2012, for the exhibition 21 Revolutions. This exhibition marked the 21 year anniversary of the founding of the charitable organisation Glasgow Women's Library. Thomas was commissioned; alongside 20 other Scotland based artists to offer a new work offering reflections about the representation of women via their own practices.
By way of a media campaign launched on the Centenary of International Women’s Day, 2011 and research made in Glasgow through local people, community groups and Caledonian University Archive’s, Thomas’s resulting work manifested itself in the form of an etching demanding the recognition of political activist Mary Barbour.
The etching proposes a city marker to celebrate one of the most influential and powerful women in Glasgow’s history: Mary Barbour. Barbour led the successful and historic 1915 Rent Strikes which forced the government’s creation of the 1915 Rent Restriction Act.
In 2018, after a 7 year campaign led by the charity organisation that Thomas was a founding member of, a statue of Mary Barbour was erected in Glasgow. This is the 5th statue recognising a woman to be erected in the city to date.
Named CollectionGlasgow Women's Library
Object TypePhoto-etching
Object numberGWL-2015-49-10
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved