Sowing dangerous seeds

My illustration, 'Sowing dangerous seeds', and accompanying statement, is published in The Art of Being Dangerous: Exploring Women and Danger through Creative Expression, paperback (Leuven University Press, 2021).

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Initially, it was a selected work in the year-long Dangerous Women Project, an online initiative of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh. The project asked: what does it mean to be a 'dangerous woman'? 'Sowing dangerous seeds' is my creative responses to this question.

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Excerpt from 'Sowing dangerous seeds' statement

In some parts of the world, when a girl dares to speak up, she challenges those who benefit from her silence. She places herself in harm’s way by daring to choose courage over fear. This is a choice that Malala Yousafzai made. At a time and place when it was dangerous to speak up, Malala advocated for her personal right – and the right of all girls and women – to an education. And, despite being shot in the head at point-blank range for doing so, she still stands up for the right to an education.

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I chose to feature Malala because she is a recognisable champion for change. The seeds represent Malala’s ‘dangerous’ idea – that girls have a right to an education – and the foliage represents the dangerous environment that this idea can (and does) create. 

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The Art of Being Dangerous book offers many different images of women, some humorous, some challenging, some well-known, some forgotten, but all unique. With almost 100 evocative images, this collection showcases an array of contemporary art that highlights the staggering breadth of talent among today’s female artists. It offers an unparalleled gallery of feminist creativity, ranging from emerging visual artists from the UK to multi-award-winning writers and translators from the Global South.