She Persists

Ambition

‘History abounds with ambitious women. For women artists to live ambitiously was, and is, to live audaciously. But without the persistence of ambitious women, we would have no progress, no pioneers, no political or creative challenges to the patriarchal status quo. Because ambition is the corollary of change.’
Dr Maria Quirk

Listen

Fashioning Identity: Madeline Green, Gwen John and Claude Cahun

‘What was a woman meant to be at this time of dynamic social change?’
Dr Maria Quirk

 Mary Beale: pioneer of portraiture

‘Women’s lives were regulated by gendered expectations and social constraints that dictated their roles and responsibilities as dutiful daughters, obedient wives, and devoted mothers.’
Dr Lisa Mansfield

 Dancing On the Edge: Sonia Delaunay and Harriet Whitney Frishmuth

‘Determined to push the boundaries of their craft both artists drew inspiration from the liberating influence of modern dance.’
Ted Gott

 Divergent Ambitions: The Door of Hope Mission in early twentieth-century Shanghai

“These dolls offer a window into the experience of women during a turbulent period of foreign occupation.”
Annika Aitken