“We are tired of having a 'sphere' doled out to us, and of being told that anything outside that sphere is 'unwomanly'. We want to be natural just for a change … we must be ourselves at all risks.”
These are the words of Kate Sheppard, the New Zealander who led the campaign to get the vote for women in 1893. Her ideals are just as relevant to society today, according to Wellington-based jewelry artist Justine Fletcher whose exhibition opens this Friday.
Justine has made 607 plaster pendants, one for each Wairarapa woman who voted in the third (and successful) petition for women’s suffrage, presented in 1893. Each pendant has the name of a woman and her town printed on the back. These have been on display at four locations throughout Wairarapa, prior to the Aratoi show.
“Interestingly, Masterton and Eketahuna had by far the largest number of signatories, with only a handful from Carterton, Greytown and Martinborough. This might have been due to …population distribution, [and] people willing to take responsibility for the collection of signatures.”
Justine enjoyed getting out into the community with '607': “Everyone says we have made big gains, and come a long way since the 1890s but in some ways I question that. The things the women were campaigning around then are still extremely relevant today such as equal pay for equal work, and alcohol and domestic violence.”
Indeed, Kate Sheppard is the face of a new campaign by Women’s Refuge aimed at tackling violence against women and children which it says has reached “epidemic” levels.
Justine, who has studied New Zealand history and our social welfare systems, focused on Wairarapa women when she applied for the Friends of Aratoi Fellowship at New Zealand Pacific Studio, where she has been based for the past two weeks. She researched the original 1893 petition at the National Library and online at www.nzhistory.net.nz, and collected old bottles and other objects evoking the era from second hand shops. From these, she made moulds then casts using plaster reinforced with resin. Her next project will be a series of chandeliers made from 1260 suspended objects, one for each of the Wellington women who voted in the 1893 petition. “I’m a jewelry artist who’se becoming an installation artists,” she laughs.
The pendants are for sale, and can be selected and reserved from a list at Aratoi during the show. Justine will then make contact and make brooches, bracelets or add a chain of a requested length.
Exhibitions at Aratoi: '607' - Justine Fletcher, 18 July - 4 August; ‘Kaleidoscope’ – Masterton Art Club, 11 July – 17 August; ‘The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy’, until 10 Aug; ‘Mastervegas’ – Toni Bolland, until 2 August. Justine Fletcher Artist talk:
Caption: Clockwise from top left: Examples of Justine's jewellry, incorporating second hand objects; Justine with the suspended pendants on found brackets; and securing the threads at her desk at the NZ Pacific Studio. Saturday 19 July, 2pm.
