Women creating public art

Statues in parks and city centres are meant to celebrate history and inspire for the future. But it's thought that in nearly every country in the world, women only make up 2-3% of the public statues. Datshiane Navanayagam talks to sculptors from the US and Nigeria who are working to redress the balance.

Meredith Bergmann is an American sculptor creating giant bronzes of significant female public figures for parks and historical sites around the United States. Her “Women’s Rights Monument” was unveiled in 2020 for the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. It was the first statue of a woman, joining 22 statues of historical men in Central Park in New York.

Sokari Douglas Camp makes steel sculptures that vary in size from 30cm to 5m tall. Influenced by her Nigerian heritage, her latest exhibition, Fashion and Fortune, explores clothing, commerce and emblems of wealth using elaborate headdresses and the incorporation of coins to highlight both oppression and creativity.