I have recently been exploring the use of real and/or appropriated images and memories to create visual narratives, based on my interest in European exploration of the Silk Road. The Resilient Women – Travellers series continues this interest by framing and focussing on the lives of European female travellers to Central Asia between 1860 and 1930. These women defied convention to live extraordinary lives of intrepid travel, motivated by a sense of adventure, and for some, faith. They included:
- Isabella Bird (1831-1904)
- Mildred Cable (1878-1952)
- Alexandra David-Neel (1868-1969)
- Mary Gaunt (1861-1942)
- Ella Maillart (1903-1997)
- Janet Wulsin (1894-1963)
The works in this series consist of diptychs of the traveller and the landscape in which she travelled. The use of magenta in the work references the colour coding of the Penguin book series ‘Travel and Adventure’, in recognition of the fact that most of these women published accounts of their travels, and some made their living from such accounts.
Selected works (including those shown below) will be shown at the group show at Alternating Current Art Space in late April 2019.
There is definately a lot to know about this subject. I really like all of the points you have made. Letizia Bartholomew Edie