Guernsey Museum to buy portraits of inspirational local women

Friday 06 September 2024

Guernsey Museums and Galleries will purchase the seven portraits of notable Guernsey women by Olympia McEwan.

They formed part of the groundbreaking 7WOMEN exhibition earlier this year and will go on display in public areas around the island including the Guille Alles Library.

Each portrait depicts an inspirational woman with ties to Guernsey, who has led in their profession, broken new ground or inspired change.

The seven women represented are:

• internationally-renowned scientist, Professor Josephine Arendt;

• prominent campaigner for gay rights and equality in the Church of England, Jayne Ozanne;

• the first female member of the House of Lords from the Channel Islands, Baroness Pitkeathley;

• co-founder of The Priaulx Premature Baby Foundation, Jo Priaulx;

• the first female H.M. Procureur & Crown Officer to the States of Guernsey, Megan Pullum KC;

• international singer-songwriter, Nessi Gomes and

• co-founder of Specsavers, Dame Mary Perkins.

Guernsey Museums' wants to increase the representation of contemporary women within its core collections.

Artist McEwan said she is thrilled her portraits will assist with this aim.

"This feels like the ultimate accolade for my 7WOMEN project. I couldn't have dreamt of a better outcome, with the paintings continuing to be a focal point to celebrate contemporary women and their achievements.

"I'm thrilled my 7WOMEN paintings have longevity, with each piece going on to be exhibited in various public spaces around the island.

"I have so many people to thank for being part of this incredible journey, and from the bottom of my heart, I'd like to thank Guernsey Museums for their vision for making this portrait series a part of their permanent collection at Candie."

Matt Harvey, Senior Curator at Guernsey Museums and Galleries, said: "Representation of such inspiring women in the island's public collection is long overdue and we are thrilled that artist Olympia McEwan was willing to work with us to achieve this.

"It is refreshing and entirely appropriate that we can include artworks like these in the Museum collection that are not only of such great quality but that also come with such an important message woven into them."

Pictured top: Olympia McEwan.