Dr. Isabel Laurence - diptych
The subject of this pair of oil paintings is Dr Isabel Laurence in her two roles - professional and domestic. I am so grateful to Isabel for modelling these 'entire' identities, each world somewhat invisible to the other.
Dr. Laurence
1mx1m oil on canvas. Please excuse photo glare at top.
Isabel
1mx1m oil on canvas. Please excuse photo glare at top.
Exhibited c/o the World Traders livery company at Goodenough College, March 2024
Created for the International Women’s Day 2024 celebration hosted by the Worshipful Company of World Traders at Goodenough College. The subject of the event is ‘the [in]visibility of women’.
This pair of portraits is inspired by Caroline Perez’ book “Invisible Women, exposing data bias in a world designed for men”
In her book Perez takes a data-driven approach to show that professional/academic women do more pastoral/tutorial care of juniors than their male colleagues. Whilst this may be a joyfully taken active choice, weaponised incompetence is often a factor.
Statistics also show that women who work full-time typically do the majority of housework and childrearing. In practice, that domestic workload (whoever does it) can equate to a second full time job, and one of many barriers to professional advancement. Women make up the vast majority of single parents, who are particularly prone to this issue. There are many things that can be done to address the imbalance, enabling women an equal footing in demanding careers - the first being acceptance (visibility) of the problem by community, household, and employer.