This is a sculpture of a sketch I made of the Seemeier fmily in the canteen.It became,for me a Holy Family,reminding me of Gothic wooden sculpture.
These photos were taken by Slawko Berzezinski,as it was in the Lady Chapel,
Ely Cathedralin 2007.
I wrote then"This group contains all my experience,and is a summary of all my other sculpturea,paintings,drawings and observations of families,children and relationships ,
which has been a constant theme all my life as an artist.
It is a crystallization of things held very dear-my own family,my pupils'my fiends'
families.It reflects my deepadmiration for Gothic carving:the painted wooden
Madonna and Child with rather rigid, reflective,protecting forms.
It contains all my experience as a mother, intent on enabling the father to take a central role in the family.It also reflects my experience of being marginalised,being in the background,of not being the main earner,yet very much the load-bearer.It contains the infinite tenderness of being with a child,its vulnerability,the responsibility,the wonder.
It contains my questions about the frequent margialisation of the father in the religious imagery of the holy family.
