A County Durham town is celebrating International Women's Day with four exhibitions in venues across the town.
Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland Town Hall, and The Auckland Project's community venue, No. 42 have opened exhibitions Missing Women and With Dinah on March 8, International Women's Day. Missing Women is inspired by Francisco de Zurbarán’s celebrated series of biblical paintings, Jacob and His Twelve Sons, which have hung in Auckland Castle’s Long Dining Room for more than 250 years.
Now for the first time they will be joined by the women in their lives who have spent the best part of 4,000 years going unnoticed. Five professional artists (Jilly Johnston, Lady Kitt, Leanne Pearce, Lizzie Lovejoy and Edwina Kung) were each commissioned to paint a life-size portrait of one of the women: Leah and Rachel (sisters to each other, cousins to Jacob as well as being his wives); Zilpah and Bilhah (potentially half-sisters to Leah and Rachel, their servants and Jacob’s concubines); and Dinah (the daughter of Leah and Jacob).
The paintings were unveiled in the Castle’s Throne Room, allowing visitors to meet the women in the context of the Zurbarán collection. Also on display at Auckland Castle, With Dinah is an exhibition of work by the artists involved in Missing Women that investigates who they are and what is important to them, explored in the context of the barriers that people face in being part of the art world.
Kate Gorman, creative producer of Missing Women, said: "When we commissioned the portraits of the missing women I thought, ‘of course we’ll do them the life size, just like the Zurbarans’ – but life size is huge! Seeing those five women taking their place in the castle with the men in their family, filling the Throne Room, it makes my heart skip."
The Missing Women project is the result of months of collaboration between the professional creative team and more than 60 young people from St John’s Catholic School, Parkside Academy, Ash Green Way Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Site, Auckland Youth and Community Centre and a group of local young parents.
The young artists’ self-portraits will be exhibited alongside the five new paintings in Bishop Auckland Town Hall from March 15 to May 13, whilst a wider exhibition about the themes they have explored and the making of the Missing Women project will make up the No. 42 Exhibition at The Auckland Project’s community venue, No. 42 (March 8 to May 28).
Laura Roberts, head of engagement at the Auckland Project, said: "This marks an exciting moment in our approach to delivering meaningful engagement with our audiences and local community. Today we are celebrating strong and lasting partnerships, the breaking down of barriers to participation and creativity, new voices, and open doors."
In addition to the exhibitions, a series of Women Were Here walking tours have been developed in collaboration with Bishop Auckland Town Ambassadors to explore the stories of the women who have written the town's proud history.
For more information about the exhibitions and walking tours, visit the Auckland Project website.
Are you planning to visit the Missing Women exhibition? Let us know!
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