The furious debate around the controversial 'feminist' Mary Wollstonecraft statue, explained
Posted 1 day ago by Isobel van Hagen 

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A memorial honouring the groundbreaking English philosopher and women’s rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft was 200 years in the making – although very few were actually pleased with how it turned out.

Known as the ‘mother of feminism’, the 18th century writer is perhaps most well-known for her 1790 work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. And so a sculpture marking her historical significance was finally unveiled on Tuesday in London, and its creators faced almost immediate criticism on social media.

The new silvery naked sculpture – a product of the 'Mary on The Green' campaign – prompted critics to call it 'sexist', 'insulting' and 'demeaning', asking why it did not directly depict Wollstonecraft and, specifically, why she had been 'reduced to a sex object'.

The uproar comes from a lack of awareness about objectifying representations of women as only 'sexy' bodies, something Wollstonecraft spent her life trying to draw attention to.

Feminist activist and author Caroline Criado-Perez, who played a key role in the campaign to erect a statue of women's suffragist Millicent Fawcett, called the artwork “a colossal waste” and “disrespectful to Wollstonecraft herself”.

Writer Tracy King, who was also involved in the Millicent Fawcett campaign, agreed: “It’s a shocking waste of an opportunity that can’t be undone. But hey, tits!”

Others were quick to note that famous male authors are never represented without clothes: “I’ve seen many statues of male writers, rights activists and philosophers and I can’t remember any of them being bare-assed.” One person said.

The artist Maggi Hambling defended her decision to depict Wollstonecraft without clothing, saying that people had "missed the point".

She explained the statue was meant to represent “everywoman” and clothes would have restricted her to a time and place, according to the Evening Standard.

But she added: “As far as I know, she’s more or less the shape we’d all like to be.” It hasn't gone down well

Bee Rowlatt, chairwoman of the 'Mary on the Green' campaign, also came to the statue’s defence saying: "This work is an attempt to celebrate her contribution to society with something that goes beyond the Victorian traditions of putting people on pedestals."

Prominent social commentator Mona Eltahawy refused this notion completely, saying: “Nudity is not the issue. What is being conveyed and for whose gaze is. Why, after years of so few statues of women, is the naked female form of statues being erected for & about women?”

Even so, some were in fact happy about the memorial, calling it 'epic' and 'radical'.

Historian Dr Fern Riddell explained her positive perspective on Twitter:

"I love it because to me it’s a massive combination of themes, I love the water like a raging wave, I like the mechanical aspect of the figure, it reminds me of how women are created in images that never match their thoughts," she wrote

But mostly, people were just confused to the point of hilarity.

As writer Hannah Jane Parkinson said, "I am genuinely crying with laughter at the new Hambling statue of Mary Wollstonecraft. The disrespect...I don't even know where to start."

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https://www.indy100.com/article/mary-wollstonecraft-maggi-hambling-statue-twitter-debate-9724857

And still, the debate rages on...

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Caitlin Moran

@caitlinmoran

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Nov 10

If you want to make a naked statue that represents "every woman", in tribute to Wollstonecraft, make it eg: a naked statue of Wollstonecraft dying, at 38, in childbirth, as so many women did back then - ending her revolutionary work. THAT would make me think, and cry.

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Research project reveals the original pigments of 2,000-year-old inscriptions at the temple of Esna

by University of Tübingen

The temple of Esna, seen from the east (spring 2019). Credit: Ahmed Amin

More than 200 years after the rediscovery of an Egyptian temple, a German-Egyptian research team has uncovered the original colors of inscriptions that are around 2,000 years old. Freed from thick layers of soot and dirt, the reliefs and inscriptions can now be admired again in bright colors. The project, led by Egyptologist Professor Christian Leitz, also discovered new inscriptions that reveal the ancient Egyptian names of constellations for the first time. The restoration work is a cooperation between the Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies (IANES) at the University of Tübingen and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.


The temple is in Esna, 60 kilometers south of Luxor in Egypt. Only the vestibule (called the pronaos) remains, but it is complete. At 37 meters long, 20 meters wide and 15 meters high, the sandstone structure was placed in front of the actual temple building under the Roman Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) and probably eclipsed it. The roof is supported by 24 columns, the capitals of the 18 free-standing columns are decorated with different plant motifs. "In Egyptian temple architecture this is an absolute exception," says Tübingen Egyptologist Daniel von Recklinghausen.

The work on the elaborate decorations probably took up to 200 years. The temple of Esna is famous for its astronomical ceiling and especially for the hieroglyphic inscriptions. They are considered to be the most recent coherent hieroglyphic text corpus that has been preserved today and which de-scribes the religious ideas of the time and the cult events at the site.

Its location in the middle of the city center probably contributed to the fact that the vestibule was preserved and was not used as a quarry for building materials as other ancient edifices were during the industrialization of Egypt. Indeed, the temple had become part of the modern city. Houses and shacks were built directly against some of its walls, in other places it protruded from a mountain of rubble, as can be seen on postcards from the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the first half of the 19th century, the hall served temporarily as a warehouse for cotton.

A restored column capital (spring 2019) shows the decoration in color. Credit: Ahmed Amin

Detail of a frieze (autumn 2019). The cartouche contains the name of Hadrian, framed by the local god Khnum (left) and the solar god Behedeti (right). Credit: Ahmed Amin

A column abacus before restoration. Credit: Ahmed Amin

A column abacus after restoration. Credit: Ahmed Amin

The restoration work shows that under many layers the original colors are preserved.

 Credit: Ahmed Emam

Egyptian constellations on the ceiling of the temple of Esna, inscriptions as yet unknown. Far right the east wind in the form of a scarab beetle with a ram’s head. Credit: Ahmed Amin

Representation of a constellation in form of a mummy. Credit: Ahmed Amin

As early as in Napoleon's time, the pronaos attracted attention in expert circles, as it was considered an ideal example of ancient Egyptian temple architecture. The real wealth, the inscriptions, was recognized by the French Egyptologist Serge Sauneron (1927-1976), who pushed ahead with the excavation of the temple and published the inscriptions in full. But without the original colors—Sauneron could not recognize them under the layers of soot and bird excrement.

Now the layers have been removed and the temple looks in part as it may have done some 2,000 years ago. In addition, it now offers new approaches for Egyptology research, says Christian Leitz, "The hieroglyphics that Sauneron explored were often only very roughly chiseled out, the details only applied by painting them in color. This means that only preliminary versions of the inscriptions had been researched. Only now do we get a picture of the final version." In the area of the astronomical ceiling, many inscriptions were not executed in relief, but only painted in ink. "They were previously undetected under the soot and are now being exposed piece by piece. Here we have found, for example, the names of ancient Egyptian constellations, which were previously completely unknown," says Leitz.


Since 2018, the two Tübingen researchers have been working with Egyptian authorities to uncover, preserve and document the paint layers. Even during the coronavirus pandemic, the work is being continued by an Egyptian team of 15 restorers and a chief conservator from the Egyptian Ministry. At regular intervals, the results are documented photographically in documentation campaigns. At the University of Tübingen, the finds are evaluated in terms of content and made available to the public via publications. Cooperation partners on the Egyptian side are Dr. Hisham El-Leithy, Mohamed Saad, Ahmed Amin, Mustafa Ahmed, Ahmed Emam. The project is supported by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the Ancient Egypt Foundation and the Santander Bank.


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More information: For more information, see www.esna-projekt-tuebingen.de
Provided by University of Tübingen

30,000-year-old twin remains found in ancient grave in Austria

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

Burial 1 with the skeletal remains of two infants recovered as block in 2005 (ind1 on the left, ind2 on the right). Photograph: Natural History Museum Vienna; modified. Credit: Communications Biology (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01372-8

A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in Austria, the U.S. and Portugal has identified the remains of two infants found in an ancient grave in Austria as identical twin babies. In their paper published in the journal Communications Biology, the group describes their study of the remains and the surrounding artifacts and what they learned about the burial.


Back in 2005, archeologists discovered the remains of three very young people buried in a grave at the Krems-Wachtberg, dig site in Austria—all three had been dated to approximately 30,000 years ago. Work at the site has revealed the presence of an ancient settlement called Gravettian. In this new effort, the researchers have studied the remains of the three infants and analyzed other artifacts found in the gravesite with them.

Two of the infants were buried under approximately five meters of soil. They were close to one another beneath a mammoth shoulder bone that had been cut and shaved to serve as a coffin lid. The lid had protected the remains, leaving them in very good condition. A DNA analysis showed that the two infants (both boys) were newly born identical twin babies. The first had died shortly after birth, while the second died approximately 50 days later. The time between deaths indicated that the gravesite had been reopened for use when the second baby died. The third infant, buried a small distance away and without a cover, was in poor condition, but the researchers were able to retrieve DNA material that showed it to be a cousin of the other two infants. The cause of the infants' deaths is unknown.

The grave itself was oval-shaped and the babies had been placed as if spooning—they had been laid on a bed of red ochre. The researchers also found 53 beads made of mammoth ivory lined up inside the grave, suggesting that they had been strung together. Because the beads showed no signs of wear, the researchers assumed they had been strung for the burial. The researchers also found three perforated mollusk shells in the grave and one fox incisor. The remains of the twins represent the oldest known monozygotic twins ever found.

a The twin’s bodies (individual 1 and 2) in the grave pit of Burial 1. b, c Mammoth ivory beads and their arrangement on individual 1’s pelvis. d Adornment of Individual 2 consisting of a perforated fox incisor (Vulpes sp.) and three perforated molluscs (Theodoxus sp.). e Ivory pin from Burial 2 (individual 3) (find numbers: c Ivory bead WA-18158; d molluscs (from top to bottom) WA-151565, WA-151561, WA-151564, fox incisor WA-151558; e ivory pin WA-37552). Photographs: OREA, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Graph: R. Thomas. Credit: Communications Biology (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01372-8


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More information: Maria Teschler-Nicola et al. Ancient DNA reveals monozygotic newborn twins from the Upper Palaeolithic, Communications Biology (2020).

DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01372-8
Journal information: Communications Biology



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