Feminist and Campaigning Pots 2019 - date
In response to the rising tide of feminism, I am revisiting the agit-prop style of pots that I was making in the 1980s and early 90s.
You Can Drown in a Mug of Hot Chocolate, 2021 and The Sanitisation Project, 2021
The Giant Mug is for the gallons of hot chocolate dispensed by support services to women in prostitution, along with information and healthcare to keep them 'safe,' in a trade that is inherently unsafe. If no support is offered to women who want to exit, this kind of service can easily end up as support for pimps, not for women. The Bucket Pot, featuring a mop with and endless stream of euphemisms, is The Sanitisation Project developed by academics to disguise the violence of the sex trade.
You Can Drown in a Mug of Hot Chocolate
You Can Drown in a Mug of Hot Chocolate
You Can Drown in a Mug of Hot Chocolate
You Can Drown in a Mug of Hot Chocolate
Detail 1 -You Can Drown in a Mug of Hot Chocolate
Detail 2-You Can Drown in a Mug of Hot Chocolate
Detail 3-You Can Drown in a Mug of Hot Chocolate
Detail 4-You Can Drown in a Mug of Hot Chocolate
The Sanitisation Project, 2021
The Sanitisation Project, 2021
The Sanitisation Project, 2021
The Sanitisation Project, 2021
The Sanitisation Project, 2021
When a Woman is Hungry, The Humane Thing, Unpalatable, Stigma, 2021
4 Bowls from the Mind Your Language series challenge the political arguments posited by sex workers rights activists. 2 of these feature a quote by Rachel Moran, an Irish sex trade survivor. When a man told her that 'sex work' was a useful job for a woman who was was poor and hungry, she replied: 'If a woman is poor and hungry, the humane thing to put in her mouth is food, Not Your Cock.'
Stigma quotes from sex trade survivor, Simone Watson's, reply to the argument that full decriminalisation of the sex trade, including both pimps and punters, would remove the stigma of prostitution and save lives. Unpalatable presents the situation survivors of the sex trade face daily when dealing with professionals using euphemisms that sanitise their experience and seek to make the violence of prostitution more comfortable, 'palatable,' for the middle classes.
Stigma, 2021
Stigma, 2021, detail 1
Stigma, 2021
Stigma, 2021
If a Woman is Hungry, 2021
If a Woman is Hungry, 2021, detail
If a Woman is Hungry, 2021
The Humane Thing, 2021
The Human Thank, 2021, detail 1
Unpalatable, 2021
Unpalatable, 2021
Unpalatable, 2021
Unpalatable, 2021
Mind Your Language, 2021 and We're Women! 2021
Mind Your Language, 2021 is the eponymous piece from a series of ceramic works commissioned by women@thewell in response to a report written by Julie Bindel on language used by reporters and academics when referring to women in the sex trade and when describing the trade itself. We're Women, 2021, shows the many words used, including slang and slurs, none of which use the only relevant and accurate word: women.
Mind Your Language, 2021
MInd Your Language, 2021
Mind Your Language, 2021
Mind Your Language, 2021
Mind Your Language, 2021
The Feminist Five, 2021
We're Women! 2021
We're Women! 2021
We're Women! 2021
We're Women, 2021, detail 3
We're Women, 2021, detail 1
We're Women! 2021, detail 2
On Hartlepool Docks and Sink the Sex Trade, 2022
These jugs were inspired by the 17th Century blue and white, tin glazed 'Nautical Jugs' and 'Ship Bowls' that commemorate the voyages of slave ships and other kinds of ships trading in 'the colonies.' The Liverpool Museum had a collection including one called, 'Success to the John,' wishing success to the boat so named with its voyage and trading mission. A 'John' is also word for a man who pays for sex, 'a punter,' or 'trick.' The Sex Trade has close links to slavery and colonialism which also accounts for my choice of imagery. 'Sink the Sex Trade,' was commissioned by Filia Feminist Conference in 2022. The rhyme is derived from words written by sex trade survivors. Sink the Sex Trade was shown at the Filia Conference, 2022, in Cardiff and at the Contemporary Arts Centre, Warsaw, 2023 in my show: 'Feminist Satire, No Safe Spaces.' You can read more about them and see the rhyme in full here.
On Hartlepool Docks
Hartlepool Docks, 2022, detail
On Hartlepool Docks
On Hartlepool Docks
On Hartlepool Docks
Sink the Sex Trade!
Sink the Sex Trade, detail
Feminist campaigning Jug
Sink the Sex Trade
Sink the Sex Trade, detail
Sink the Sex Trade with On Hartlepool Docks
Pimp State and Map of the Global Sex Trade, both 2021
Pimp State and Map of the Global Sex Trade are both dystopian satires mocking the absurdly idealised image of a fully decriminalised, state regulated, sex trade advocated by many campaigners. Their vision includes a fully marketed surrogacy industry as part of the international trade in female flesh for sexual abuse by men. Commissioned by women@thewell in response to their report by Julie Bindel. You can read more about Pimp State here
Pimp State, 2021
Pimp State, 2021
Pimp State, 2021
Pimp State, 2021
Pimp State, 2021, detail
Map of the Global Sex Trade, 2021
Map of the Global Sex Trade, 2021
Map of the Global Sex Trade, 2021
Map of the Global Sex Trade, 2021
Map of the Global Sex Trade, 2021
The Butch Pot, 2021
‘The Butch Pot’ reasserts the presence of the ‘old school,’ butch presenting lesbian. Remember them? Words change but people don’t - or not much – and no, there is no such thing as a lesbian with a penis. I have fond memories of lesbian bars and clubs in the 1980s so I’ve made a pot to celebrate us all.
The Butch Pot, (2020) view 2
The Butch Pot, 2020
The Butch Pot, 2020, view 1
The Butch Pot, 2020, detail
