76 INCLUSIVE CITY
prominent sites of public space seems even more strategically patriarchal: trumpeting male military achievements (or on the part of the general public/soldiers, sacrifice) and economic success (regardless of who was exploited to achieve it). You could say it’s all so last century except, actually, it was the prevailing attitude even into this century, until very recently. Curator Claire Mander is on a mission of her own to rectify the imbalance of visible women artists in the public realm. Seizing an underutilised public ‘garden’ (albeit free of grass or plants) above Temple Tube on the London Underground, she opened Te Artist’s Garden in 2021, determined to showcase women artists’ work. Te first
Determined to
showcase their work, curator Claire Mander is on a mission to rectify the imbalance of visible women artists in the public realm
exhibition featured British-Ugandan artist Lakwena Maciver, with a technicolour vision of Paradise, in ceramic tiles. In 2024, a new group show was unveiled here, also featuring all women artists (see case study). Maciver grew up between London and
East Africa and has sought to articulate geographic and cultural diversity through graphics and colour since 2009, when she graduated in graphic design from the London College of Communications. An international following sprang from her 2013 mural I Remember Paradise, unveiled at a street art festival in Miami. Since then her installations have appeared at Tate Modern, Somerset House and the Southbank Centre in London, as well
CASE STUDY THE ARTIST’S GARDEN
Claire Mander, founder and director of the COLAB (a charity dedicated to bringing female artists’ work into public space), first spotted a plinth-like paved space above Temple Tube when studying at the Courtauld. She saw its potential as a public art space and launched its first outing in 2021, as a Covid-friendly gathering space, with the floor drenched in the colourful patterning of British-Ugandan artist Lakwena Mciver. Says Mander: ‘The idea is to spot a woman with talent or promise or interest in making
work for the outdoors, and helping her through demystifying the process: how to present things to structural engineers, how to get through the planning process, how to communicate with the public.’ In 2024, the first group show opened, featuring work from nine female artists: Rong Bao, Candida Powell-Williams, Alice Wilson, Lucy Gregory, LR Vandy, Frances Richardson, Holly Stevenson, Olivia Bax, and Virginia Overton. Vivid and colourful, the works demonstrate both enormous diversity and presence, often encouraging public interaction, from spinning a can-can cluster of legs on a pole (Gregory’s
It’s All Kicking Off, 2024) or banging and stroking the chimes offered by Overton (Chime for Caro, 2022), made using Anthony Caro’s studio offcuts. Says Mander: ‘The site (near
Waterloo Bridge and the Strand) is very, very important. And the artists’ response to the site is very important. We have artists responding to the idea of the garden, or the Thames, or aspects of nature or the landscape. Or the fact that it’s a women’s space. Many people have been surprised by this exhibition. A lot of people have come and said: “I didn’t realise that it was all by women, or that
women made such big things”.’ Manders, through the work on
this site, as well as ongoing collaborations and projects with Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Royal College of Art, is building a large network of women sculptors. She says: ‘What we find here is it’s a very nurturing environment for artists. Because we’ve built up this massive network of artists, both through this and our drawing residencies, people are helping each other. The artists are helping each other. They are introducing each other to their contacts. The network is growing in this powerful, exponential way.’
PHOTOS: POWELLWILLIAMS
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