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Women at Work - Art Dolls


This week , Anzac Day is commemorated in Australia - a remembrance day for those lost at war. April 25 was also the day when women in Columbus, Mississippi decorated the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers in 1866. This act of generosity and remembrance helped establish "Memorial Day" holiday. It always seemed ironic to me that, during the war years, women were considered able, equal and competent and  were respected in many fields of work, denied to them because of gender in previous years and sometimes in subsequent years. 

Medical Doctor 
My " Women at Work" series  was created to remember the struggle of women to establish themselves in the workforce.  They are quite different from my usual style of dolls. They are all simple  shapes with machine embroidered outlines.  From a distance, and even in these photos, the lines look as though they have been drawn onto the fabric, but it's all stitching. I have added a splash of colour to some, but  I have kept to the  same style for all - plain brown straight machine  stitching on cream cotton fabric .
Home making 
Management

All the lines are stitched, but on the back of each is a story  or message about the particular job. It surprised me when I did the research  that women were not considered "serious"  in floristry, a field that I had always considered "women's work" ... 
Florist 
back of Owmen at Worl 
April 25 was also  Ella Fitzgerald's birthday. I think her words should be remembered . " Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong. " Anzac Day - Memorial Day - Lest we Forget.

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  1. lorikApril 23, 2012 at 4:06 PM

    You have certainly been very productive. Lovely work.

    ReplyDelete

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