Features / Sculpture
Bristol artist celebrates women’s bodies by taking their casts
Ellen Downes has set out to tell stories of sexual harassment and assault from women and non-binary people.
For the past seven weeks, the artist has cast dozens of people’s torsos to create a collection of golden sculptures.
The exhibition, called My Body My Home, aims to “celebrate the diversity and beauty of our bodies”.
is needed now More than ever
It is in response to the fact that 97 per cent in the UK have been assaulted.
Downes takes casts of women and non-binary people’s torsos – photo: Ellen Downes
Downes’ “wall of golden armour” is both spectacular and educational: it functions to empower women and non-binary people who helped create it and exposes viewers to an inclusive anatomical vision of bodies.
One hundred sculptures will be on display at Centerspace Gallery alongside their stories of experiences of sexual harassment and assault.
As well as the exhibition, there will be events such as life drawing and movement classes.
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Downes, whose studio is in Barton Hill, first learned to body cast after trying it in 2015, going on to explore the artistic process across the world. She is determined to give underrepresented people a voice through her art.
About the exhibition, she said: “I am so honoured to share my art and this therapeutic process with others.”
“Every Body’s Story is a platform to raise the voices of marginalised genders and create a space for sharing the stories that we are so often forced to carry in silence.”
“Our bodies are perpetually objectified and so for this project I am turning our bodies into objects, on our terms and in a really beautiful, empowering way.”
Tickets are available to book at yuup.co/my-body-my-home
Main photo: My Body My Home
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