A Real Birmingham Family

Last updated

The artwork, with the Library of Birmingham (left) and Baskerville House in the background A Real Birmingham Family.JPG
The artwork, with the Library of Birmingham (left) and Baskerville House in the background

A Real Birmingham Family is a public artwork and sculpture by Gillian Wearing, cast in bronze, and erected in Centenary Square, outside the Library of Birmingham, England, on 30 October 2014. [1]

It depicts two local sisters, each single mothers called Roma and Emma Jones, with their two children; Roma's son Kyan and Emma's son Shaye. Emma is depicted as pregnant with a second son, Isaac, who was born before the sculpture was unveiled. [1] [2] A small plaque laid on the ground in front of the work describes it.

In a process begun in 2011, and coordinated by the city's Ikon Gallery, nominations for a "real" local family to model for the sculpture were invited. The Joneses were selected from a shortlist, by an independent panel, in August 2013. [2] [3]

Wearing said: [4]

I really liked how Roma and Emma Jones spoke of their closeness as sisters and how they supported each other. It seemed a very strong bond, one of friendship and family, and the sculpture puts across that connectedness between them. A nuclear family is one reality but it is one of many and this work celebrates the idea that what constitutes a family should not be fixed.

The £100,000 cost of the work was covered by a combination of public money and private donations. [1] The casting was carried out in China. [1] The project follows Wearing's 2008 work, A Typical Trentino Family. [2]

In November 2014 shortly after being unveiled, New Fathers 4 Justice activist Bobby Smith covered the statue with a white sheet and pictures of his two daughters. Smith commented, "They’ve depicted the normal family with no fathers... I believe kids are always better off with both parents in their lives." [5] [6]

The statue went into storage in May 2017, to allow work for the redevelopment of Centenary Square to begin. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillian Wearing</span> British artist

Gillian Wearing CBE, RA is an English conceptual artist, one of the Young British Artists, and winner of the 1997 Turner Prize. In 2007 Wearing was elected as lifetime member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Her statue of the suffragist Millicent Fawcett, popularly known as "Hanging out the washing", stands in London's Parliament Square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centenary Square</span>

Centenary Square is a public square on the north side of Broad Street in Birmingham, England, named in 1989 to commemorate the centenary of Birmingham achieving city status. The area was an industrial area of small workshops and canal wharves before it was purchased by the council in the 1920s for the creation of a grand civic centre scheme to include museums, council offices, cathedral and opera house. The scheme was abandoned after the arrival of World War II with only the Hall of Memory and half of the planned Baskerville House complete. After the war the scheme was revived in a simpler form however the council never managed to implement the design.

<i>Boulton, Watt and Murdoch</i>

Boulton, Watt and Murdoch is a gilded bronze statue depicting Matthew Boulton, James Watt, and William Murdoch by William Bloye, assisted by Raymond Forbes Kings. It stands on a plinth of Portland stone in Centenary Square, Birmingham and marks the contribution these individuals made to the development of the steam engine and hence the start of the Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hall of Memory, Birmingham</span> Public sculpture by Albert Toft

The Hall of Memory is a war memorial in Centenary Square, Birmingham, England, designed by S. N. Cooke and W. N. Twist. Erected 1922–25 by John Barnsley and Son, it commemorates the 12,320 Birmingham citizens who died in World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Square, Birmingham</span>

Victoria Square is a pedestrianised public square in Birmingham, England. It is home to both the Town Hall and the Council House, and directly adjacent to Chamberlain Square. It is named in honour of Queen Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brisbane City Hall</span> Civic building in Brisbane, Australia

Brisbane City Hall, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, is the seat of the Brisbane City Council. It is located adjacent to King George Square, where the rectangular City Hall has its main entrance. The City Hall also has frontages and entrances in both Ann Street and Adelaide Street. The building design is based on a combination of the Roman Pantheon, and St Mark's Campanile in Venice and is considered one of Brisbane's finest buildings. It was listed on the Register of the National Estate in 1978 and on the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992. It is also iconic for its Westminster chimes which sound on the quarter-hour.

<i>King Edward VII Memorial</i> Public sculpture by Albert Toft

The King Edward VII Memorial is a sculpture in memory of King Edward VII, relocated from Highgate Park to Centenary Square, Birmingham, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Fathers 4 Justice</span>

New Fathers 4 Justice is a UK-based direct action fathers' rights group campaigning for the rights of fathers to see their children. It is a splinter group of Fathers 4 Justice.

<i>The River</i> (artwork)

The River, locally known as the Floozie in the Jacuzzi, is an artwork in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Winston Churchill, Parliament Square</span> Sculpture by Ivor Roberts-Jones in London

The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, London, is a bronze sculpture of the former British prime minister Winston Churchill, created by Ivor Roberts-Jones.

<i>Statue of Queen Victoria, St Helens</i> Public sculpture by George Frampton

The Statue of Queen Victoria stands on the western side of Victoria Square, St Helens, Merseyside, England. It was created after the death of Queen Victoria and given to the town by Colonel William Windle Pilkington, mayor of St Helens in 1902, and a member of the Pilkington glass manufacturers in the town. Pilkington commissioned George Frampton to design it. Frampton used the same model for the figure of the queen for two other statues, but placed it on thrones and pedestals of different designs. The St Helens statue was unveiled by the Earl of Derby in 1905. Originally placed in the centre of Victoria Square, it was moved to a position on the west side of the square in 2000. The statue is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.

<i>A Conversation with Oscar Wilde</i> Memorial sculpture in London by Maggi Hambling

A Conversation with Oscar Wilde is an outdoor sculpture by Maggi Hambling in central London dedicated to Oscar Wilde. Unveiled in 1998, it takes the form of a bench-like green granite sarcophagus, with a bust of Wilde emerging from the upper end, with a hand clasping a cigarette.

<i>The Promised Land</i> (sculpture) Sculpture in Portland, Oregon

The Promised Land is an outdoor bronze sculpture by David Manuel, installed in 1993 in Chapman Square, in Portland, Oregon. It is a bronze sculpture depicting a pioneer family at the end of their journey that was de-accessioned in 2020 in response to vandalism and racial justice concerns during the George Floyd protests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby Smith (activist)</span> Candidate in the 2019 UK General Election

Bobby Smith is a British political and fathers' rights activist. He is the founder and leader of the Give Me Back Elmo party which he set up to seek to change the law in family courts after his own experiences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Amy Winehouse</span> Statue in Camden Town, London

A bronze statue of the British singer Amy Winehouse is located in the Stables Market in Camden Town, in north London. Sculpted by Scott Eaton, it was unveiled in 2014, three years after the singer's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Millicent Fawcett</span> Sculpture by Gillian Wearing in London

The statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, honours the British suffragist leader and social campaigner Dame Millicent Fawcett. It was made in 2018 by Gillian Wearing. Following a campaign and petition by the activist Caroline Criado Perez, the statue's creation was endorsed by both the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. The statue, Parliament Square's first monument to a woman and also its first sculpture by a woman, was funded through the government's Centenary Fund, which marks 100 years since some women won the right to vote. The memorial was unveiled on 24 April 2018.

<i>Victory Over Blindness</i> Sculpture in Manchester, England

Victory Over Blindness is a bronze sculpture in Manchester, England, by Johanna Domke-Guyot. It is on Piccadilly Approach outside the main entrance of Manchester Piccadilly station and was commissioned to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.

<i>Rise up, Women</i> (Emmeline Pankhurst statue) Bronze sculpture in St Peters Square, Manchester depicting Emmeline Pankhurst

Rise up, Women, also known as Our Emmeline, is a bronze sculpture of Emmeline Pankhurst in St Peter's Square, Manchester. Pankhurst was a British political activist and leader of the suffragette movement in the United Kingdom. Hazel Reeves sculpted the figure and designed the Meeting Circle that surrounds it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Mahatma Gandhi, Tavistock Square</span> Sculpture by Fredda Brilliant in Bloomsbury, London

A bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi by Fredda Brilliant was unveiled in 1968 at the centre of Tavistock Square in London, to mark the impending centenary of Gandhi's birth in 1869. Mahatma Gandhi had studied law at University College London nearby from 1888 to 1891, before being called to the bar at the Inner Temple.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Tyler, Jane (30 October 2014). "Library of Birmingham statue unveiling: Two mums immortalised in 'ordinary' family sculpture". Birmingham Mail . Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 K., Sarah (30 October 2014). "A Real Birmingham Family". Birmingham City Council . Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  3. ↑ Authi, Jasbir (28 August 2013). "Meet the Joneses - the real Birmingham family of two single mums and sons chosen for library statue". Birmingham Mail . Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  4. ↑ "A Real Birmingham Family". Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  5. ↑ Hallam, Katie (1 November 2014). "Library of Birmingham statue attacked by New Fathers For Justice protester". Birmingham Mail . Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Lyndon, Neil (3 November 2014). "Is Gillian Wearing's family sculpture offensive to fathers?". The Telegraph . Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "Controversial family statue removed from Centenary Square and put into storage". Birmingham Mail . Retrieved 16 August 2017.

52°28′45″N1°54′29″W / 52.479113°N 1.908175°W / 52.479113; -1.908175

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.