Women
Of Steel

Women of Steel is a series of steel crocheted portraits focussing on women, who despite considerable achievement in the face of patriarchal and often racial barriers, are remembered for controversy and often discussed using sexist language.

Featured in this series are Aung San Suu Kyi, one of the world’s most well known political prisoners and activists for the furthering of democracy in Burma. She has received many honours, including the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2016, she became the first female Minister of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar. Over the past few years Aung San Suu Kyi’s integrity has continually been questioned through allegations of Islamophobia, due to her perceived reticence to address the plight of the persecuted Muslim Rohingya people.

Mayawati is another subject, who became the youngest Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1995 and was the first female Dalit Chief Minister in India. Mayawati was 59th on the Forbes 100 most powerful women in the world in 2008 and was in the India’s 15 Most Influential list as proclaimed by Time Magazine in 2007. Mayawati’s achievements are often overshadowed by controversy including her land acquisition policies which took land from farmers to be reallocated for the poor and for industry. This led to violent protests and an equally violent response from the state.

Condoleezza Rice is the third subject, and was the first female African-American to become Secretary of State, as well as the second African American to be secretary of state after Colin Powell. She was the second female secretary of state after Madeleine Albright. Condoleezza Rice’s actions in relation to the Iraq war were questioned on gendered terms, when it was suggested by Barbara Boxer in 2007 that she could not empathise due to her not having children. Cartoonist Ted Rall created a racist depiction of Condoleezza Rice, including where she calls herself Bush’s “house n***a.”

The methods employed to create the “Women of Steel” series embodies the paradox of traditional femininity, through the use of crocheting, with a material that is both tough and durable – steel. The work gains a further dimension through the use of lighting which casts shadows between and across the wire sculptures. This duality of light and shade further reflects the dichotomy of achievement and controversy encapsulated by the women portrayed.

Women of Steel was recently featured in the book ‘The Art of Being Dangerous‘, was longlisted in the Oaktree and Tiger Ashurst Art Prize and is featured in the University of Edinburgh’s Dangerous Women Project.

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(+44) 796 372 2312

satdeep.grewal@gmail.com

@SatdeepGrewalArts