A Symbol
of the Present
Preliminary
thoughts.....
When
I started to think about this project, I was drawn to some of the
electronic kit that is iconic about 2014 – the iPod 5
series, for example, with its amazing high-res built-in camera and
its ease of talking to others via FaceTime or listening to entire
music collections on the go. Or the iPad, with its various
apps for painting or drawing without any of the necessary equipment,
and its library of books and magazines to read any time, anywhere.
Or maybe GoogleGlass, the wearable technology development that
hasn't quite hit the market yet. Or Tweets and Facebook,
which have revolutionised the way we keep in touch with each other
and report news as it happens anywhere on the planet. I want an
international symbol, one that reflects changes in the way we think
of each other. Maybe YouTube – even my 2-year-old
grandchild has a daily diet of this.
And
then there's wildlife and the environment to consider..........the
shortage of water, the pollution of the earth, the destruction of the
rainforest, the depletion of fish stocks......and that terrifying
prospect,global warming. Maybe a wind turbine would be the
answer........ This is difficult!
But.......somehow
I stop myself from choosing a technological symbol, as I realise
that a large proportion of the world is still struggling to gain
access to a supplies of fresh clean water, and 27,000 babies die
every day – over 10,000,000 every year! - from child poverty. We
are more likely to answer an appeal for flood victims or earthquake
victims (both natural disasters which we can't control) than to
contribute to an appeal dealing with these ongoing human tragedies.
Then
my eye was drawn to a headline about same-sex marriage, and I
read that England and Wales (Scotland had already voted in favour)
were legalising marriage between people of the same sex from March
this year. This would make Britain one of about 20 countries in the
world to recognise that stigmatizing gay couples is denying them
legal protection through inheritance or hospital visitation rights
for next-of-kin. In some cultures, homosexuality and lesbianism are
actually criminal offences. I have always felt that gay people were
born that way, and were powerless to change their nature, rather than
believing it was a choice that contravened religious teaching and
therefore immoral.
There is certainly lots of evidence in nature, in
the animal kingdom, to support the view that it is “normal” in many
species, and one story in particular caught my eye because it
described a long-term relationship between chin-strap penguins in New York Zoo, where
Roy and Silo
incubated a chick abandoned by
another penguin, and reared her to
maturity. I love the idea of the animals being penguins, as I think the “coming in from the cold” symbolises what I hope will be a groundswell of legislation to give gay marriage the support itand reduces discrimination of this natural bahaviour. We need more love in the world, not more intolerance.
 |
| My starting point - a sketch of Roy and Silo entwining necks ( courting behaviour ) |
What I am
symbolising:
I
am symbolising that living things, including humans, lower order
animals, and plants, exhibit attraction to and attractiveness for
other same-sex organisms. Behaviours can include vocalisations,
caring and nurturing of young, ecstasy and pleasure in the company of
same-sex partners; and they can enjoy these relationships over the
long term. They should be free to make these long-term commitments to
one another, to raise families, and be accepted by society and the
law as having the same rights as mixed-sex relationships. They can
exhibit brain arousal patterns that show they are not choosing these
behaviours, but are unconsciously driven. In other words, their
behaviours are built-in and not learned, and are natural to them.
I
also want to show that our disapproval of homosexual behaviour, and
our criminalising of it for a long time, has placed homosexual people
outside mainstream society, and deprived them of basic human rights.
They have literally been “out in the cold” and still are in most
countries of the world.
The
symbol I will choose:
The
symbol I will choose is therefore a sculpture of chinstrap penguins,
showing courtship behaviours. I am slightly nervous that extreme
right-wing groups will see my choice of an animal family and equate
same-sex marriage with debased, instinctual behaviour that humans
must fight by becoming civilised, so have toyed with the idea of
using a Henry Moore-like sculpture of The Family Group, but having 2
men in it instead of a man and a woman. I liked this
option, but felt it wasn't original enough for this exercise, and it
doesn't have the added advantage of showing behaviours that occur naturally in several animal species, including those closest to humans - the apes. Nor does it allow me to create a metaphor of "coming in from the cold" as I am able to do by choosing an animal that comes from an ice-bound environment to one of relative warmth, both real and emotional.
 |
| Henry Moore: The Family Group, Photo Tate Org |
.JPG) |
| My early sketch of a proposed Family Group with 2 Male figures |
My next sketches were looking at the ways chinstrap
penguins display courtship behaviours and I chose bowing with heads
well down for the first one, which I discarded because it resulted in
an outline which looked too heart-shaped and this sculpture is not so
much about romance as about commitment and partnership. In the second sketch the two penguins' beaks are touching, but again I felt it looked too much like they were kissing each
other and I don't want to trivialise
the sculpture by making it seem too twee.
 |
| Three preliminary sketches of penguin courtship behaviour. |
My favourite sketch is the third one, where the two are facing each other, flippers out-stretched, and vocalising. I really like this one,
because it looks most celebratory, as if
the animals were calling out to everyone. I like the way they are looking up - an optimistic stance;
but also in psychological
terms, perhaps they are looking back into their memories
of the long road it has been to get to this point.
In the end, I decided not to have a chick in the
composition, as I preferred the nest of stones to represent setting
up a home together, rather than starting a family. This new Law is
not just about families after all, but about formalising the choice
of a life partner, which does not include having children for an
increasing number of people.
I have also decided to have it made from ribbons of
stainless-steel so that it is mostly transparent. This is to
represent the fact that single-sex partners have nothing to hide and
can be looked at from any angle – seen right through – for what
they are, without fear of judgement. The heads and feet will be
solid, painted in black and white, as will the feet and tail
feathers. This is mainly for dramatic effect and solidity, but also
to emphasize their sameness.
 |
| "The Couple" |
Who
will I choose to make it?
I'd
choose Antony Gormley
to make this sculpture, as he is a contemplative man, whose works are
on a large scale, and I'd place it in Hyde Park!
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