Cardiff's Betty Campbell monument has been voted the best in the UK by the public at a prestigious statue and sculpture awards. The monument was announced as the winner of the public vote at the Public Statues and Sculpture Association (PSSA) Marsh Awards 2022 for Excellence in Public Sculpture in an online ceremony on Tuesday (November 24).
The monument was unveiled in Cardiff city centre on September 29 last year. It was created following a campaign by Monumental Welsh Women, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to recognising the contribution of women to the history and life of Wales.
The subject of the four-metre high sculpture - which stands in front of the HMRC building in Central Square - is Wales' first Black headteacher, Betty Campbell, known for paving the way to equality and diversity in the capital and beyond. She was born Rachel Elizabeth Campbell in 1934 in Cardiff's docklands area to a Jamaican father and Welsh Barbadian mother and grew up in Tiger Bay.
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Mrs Campbell worked as a teacher in diverse areas of the city - first in Llanrumney, then at her local Mount Stuart Primary School. From there she was appointed headteacher at Mount Stuart Primary School in Butetown, where she taught for 28 years. During her time at the school she became inspired by the US Civil Rights movement and taught her students about slavery and Black history. Later on, she was among those who created Black History Month in the UK.
Away from the classroom, Mrs Campbell was on the race relations board between 1972 and 1976, a member of the Broadcasting Council for Wales from 1980 to 1984, a member of the Home Office's race advisory committee and served in many education roles. She was also a member of the preparation committee for the opening of the National Assembly of Wales (now referred to as the Senedd) in 1998 and a former councillor for the Butetown ward.
In 2003, Mrs Campbell was made an honorary fellow of UWIC – now Cardiff Metropolitan University – for services to education and community life for which she was also awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. She died in 2017, aged 82.
Remarkably, her monument was the first statue of a real, named Welsh woman in Wales. It is the first of five statues of named Welsh women being erected by Monumental Welsh Women in five different locations around Wales in five years. Internationally renowned figurative sculptor Eve Shepherd was given the task of depicting her. You can read about the the incredible stories hiding under the surface of the statue here.
For the first time in the history of the annual PSSA Marsh Awards, the public were given a chance to vote for their favourite work. Nine public works of sculpture from across the UK made the shortlist that people voted from. The Betty Campbell Monument was the only work nominated from Wales.
The other sculptures which the Betty Campbell Monument beat in the public vote included a giant Whale sculpture - called 'The Tay Whale' - on the Dundee Waterfront on Scotland, the first permanent UK public artwork dedicated to the Windrush Generation in London - called 'Custard Apple (Annonaceae), Breadfruit (Moraceae) and Soursop (Annonaceae)' - as well as others in Sussex, Yorkshire, Suffolk, and Hertfordshire. A judging panel deemed the latter the overall winner of the Public Statues and Sculpture Association Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture.
Following the public vote win, sculptor Eve Shepherd said: "I am truly honoured that The Betty Campbell Monument has won the public vote. Who, in my opinion, is better qualified to judge sculptures made for public spaces, than the public themselves!
"A public sculpture depicting not only women, but the Black community has been long overdue and I'm proud of the Monumental Welsh Women's Committee, Betty Campbell's family, the people of Cardiff and the Black community for entrusting me to represent this sculpture and an incredible woman. Thank you to all who took the time out of their busy lives to vote for The Betty Campbell Monument."
Helen Molyneux, chair of Monumental Welsh Women said: "We’re delighted that Eve Shepherd’s ground-breaking monument of Betty Campbell has been honoured in this way. It’s a true testament to the visual and emotional impact that the monument has had in its relatively short time in situ in Cardiff city centre. Eve Shepherd’s multi-layered work has been taken into the hearts of people not only in Wales, but the world over and this award is a wonderful honour to our monumental women."
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