A public sculpture celebrating nearly 400 inspirational women has been unveiled in Leeds – featuring Spectrum’s very own Chief Executive, Dr Linda Harris OBE!
Initiated by Leeds MP and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, and led by Leeds Arts University (in partnership with Leeds City Council and Leeds City College), the project celebrates women, past and present, who have contributed to the city.
The sculpture, by the artist Pippa Hale, is entitled ‘Ribbons’. It features the names of women voted for by the public, since the first public call out in 2019. Over 600 nominations were received, with the criteria being that women must have lived or worked in the Leeds city boundaries for at least one year.
As the name suggests, the artwork is made up of several lengths of steel with the names of women cut into them. It is located at the top of the gardens between Leeds City College’s Quarry Hill campus and Leeds Playhouse, at the gateway to the Soyo development.
Linda said, “It’s a huge honour and a really humbling experience to have been nominated for the ‘Ribbons’ sculpture and have my name present in the body of the work. The sculpture, unveiled last weekend in Quarry Hill, draws you into this artistic celebration of the lives of so many inspiring women, past and present, whose work has brought them into the Leeds boundary. Standing with the sculpture, a fabulous achievement by the artist Pippa Hale, it makes you realise the significant and forceful role for good played by so many women across areas of academia, the arts, women’s rights, sports, culture and social justice. I am so proud to be a part of it.”
Pippa explained, “It stemmed from this idea of celebrating women, and also naming them. We’ve got lots of old Victorian statues of men, particularly in Leeds, and I think there was an ambition to redress this gender imbalance in the city’s public art. Other cities were commissioning figurative sculptures of historic women, particularly the suffragettes, or women who’d been involved in social reform. So, the idea was to do something different… where we could name not just one woman, but many women.”
For a full list of the names featured on ‘Ribbons’, please click here.
The photo below, by Josh Hall, features MP Rachel Reeves (second from left) and artist Pippa Hale (fifth from left). Linda’s name is in the bottom right corner (top row) of the image – but if you would like to visit the sculpture in person, look out for : Ribbon Number 6.06
