7 Women: Populating our spaces with portraits of women

Friday 08 March 2024

“We need more portraits of women in our public spaces,” Olympia McEwan tells me as we sit down to discuss her upcoming exhibition ‘7 Women’.

Olympia is prolific and well-established local artist who specialises in the visual arts. She curated the book ‘In Living Memory’, which was launched to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Channel Islands, and she raised £10,000 in medical aid for those impacted by the war in Ukraine by launching a Facebook campaign in 2022.

She was also my art teacher once upon a time.

'7 Women’ is the development of a theme she began exploring in 2018 with an exhibition called ‘Amazing Women! Yellow Chair Portraits’ that celebrated local women via portrait paintings.

This time Olympia has reduced her focus to just seven, picking notable people with careers in science, the arts, church, state, and philanthropy. “The reason why there are fewer is because I'm painting them all virtually life size - in oil - so they're quite big paintings. I wanted to keep it as diverse as possible.”

And the list is very diverse indeed. Olympia talks through the subjects, what they’ve done and why she chose them.

Pictured (l-r): Jayne Ozanne, Jo Priaulx, and Mary Perkins.

"We've got the equality champion, Jayne Ozanne, who is fighting for the LGBTQ+ community, mainly for the Church of England. She was part of the driving force... to bring about banning conversion therapy.

"There’s Jo Priaulx. [In the portrait] she's holding a bunch of Guernsey lilies and the title for her portrait is: A gift to the island.”

Jo is responsible for launching and running the Priaulx Premature Baby Foundation. “Her life's work is literally a gift to the island, isn't it?” said Olympia.

"Mary Perkins is my philanthropist... she has had a massive impact on the island, and she champions dozens of charities. We've got Baroness Pitkeathley who is from Guernsey originally... she was the first female peer in the House of Lords from the Channel Islands.

“Nessi Gomes is an amazing musician... she has recently sold out her gigs at St James. It is brilliant that it kind of coincides with me launching this project as well.”

Olympia continues by speaking about Megan Pullum KC who represents the legal side of her diverse group of female leaders.

"This is the first time in 500 years that Guernsey has appointed a woman into the post of procurer,” she said.

Pictured (l-r): Nessi Gomes and Megan Pullum.

"We've also got an internationally renowned scientist [called Professor Josephine Ardent]. Her claim to fame is that she could scientifically prove why [melatonin] was being created in the body, what it was for, and how it can help people who have certain issues.

“For example, profoundly blind people have no perception of light and dark. So, their body clocks just run freely. By working with a prescription of melatonin their body clocks get back into sync with everyone else, which means they can run their lives.

“She also was the first woman to run experiments in the British Antarctic base. Because you have six months of daylight and six months of nighttime. So, she was using people that are actually working in the Antarctic base, for some of her research, and she was helping them and she was one of the first women to actually set foot on the base.”

It’s a phenomenal list and Olympia will be presenting her work in Guernsey’s Royal Court building between 8 and 22 March.

The exhibition is sponsored by Deloitte Guernsey with Olympia wishing to personally thank the Deloitte partner, Jo Huxtable, who has championed her work.

Not only is the installation a celebration of women by a pioneering female artist, but the entire project has been supported by Guernsey Arts and its Partnership Development Executive Louise Le Pelley.

Pictured (l-r): Baroness Pitkeathley and Josephine Ardent.

“We are really proud to be supporting Olympia’s exhibition championing iconic women and trailblazers across our community, having supported Olympia’s Greenhouse Gallery show in 2018. Olympia’s work showcases the importance that art has in celebrating the achievements of our amazing community and the people that make Guernsey special.”

Louise has been working with Guernsey Arts for several years and says the umbrella charity is consistently looking to support local artists.

“Guernsey Arts ensures that all have access to appreciation of the arts, regardless of their age or background. Guernsey is an inspiring place to call home and the work carried out by our team, Directors and Committee members supports, promotes and inspires a diverse array of incredible artists across the Bailiwick.”

I asked Louise why she works in the creative industry and how she started her career in it.

“I love all art and I have always done visual arts, music, theatre... When I was a teenager, that really was my main interest and that developed into a love for languages too [and a career in digital marketing].

"During the lockdown period I started painting because we couldn't travel anywhere, and I started painting pictures of pubs... and I found that the art community was incredibly supportive.

"An opening came up at Guernsey Arts and I thought the concept of working for the arts, being able to mix my passion for art and my skills within marketing and networking and fundraising would be the perfect opportunity.

“I'm very, very privileged to have this role because we have so many incredible events and people on the island.”

Guernsey Arts continues to develop and promote female voices and Louise is currently helping curate ‘Herstory’ Fest, which is a weekend dedicated to this history of local women. It’s being held at Candie Gardens on 13 and 14 April.

You can find a dedicated list of Guernsey Arts events online at arts.gg and you can find out more about Olympia McEwan at olympiamcewan.com.

This interview was first published in CONNECT, Express' sister publication.

The latest edition of CONNECT can be read HERE.