Commemorating the world’s most influential women is undoubtedly an important act in today’s society. Whether it's a statue standing in a public park, a biography newly published or a film shot for the silver screen, it’s most notably, and essentially, done in public. But what of the everyday, more personal ways women are being celebrated now? Jewellery maker and textile artist Joanne Haywood for one has answered this question with an unusual new collection of her latest mixed media creations.
Titled
A Woman’s Work Is Never Done, Joanne has made 21 new jewellery works as tributes to some of the women that have made considerable impacts on her life, be it personally, creatively or politically. Kick-started as part of the
Icons exhibition at the Association for Contemporary Jewellery in 2014, this project has continued as Joanne's means of honouring trailblazing women in history.
Works in this project include neckpieces and brooches made in honour of American novelist Patricia Highsmith, the pioneering British aviator Amy Johnson, punk rock singer-songwriter Patti Smith and English poet and novelist AS Byatt. Handmade with a wide variety of materials such as cotton, silk leather and felt, these pieces are made to be thought of as a collection, working together as a whole to tell a larger story of strength and femininity.
Embracing the act of assembly in her work, Joanne’s creations are triggered by her own childhood memories; places she’s been and objects she’s seen along her own path. Capturing the varying moments of life’s cycles,
A Woman’s Work Is Never Done revels in the personal and pays tribute to an arsenal of women in a warm and intimate way – a method that can speak just as loudly as any of the public displays we see today.
www.joannehaywood.co.uk
Pictured: necklaces for Patricia Highsmith, Amy Johnson, and Patti Smith
