Birmingham, West Midlands, UK

A to Z Of Inspirational Women...H is for

It has been a while I am bad I know! Lets get back into the swing of the A-Z of inspirational women. For any new readers you can catch up on old posts by using the tag. OK then doll face lets jump right into H.


As always I am ever enthused by women in art so lets start with  A woman who's art work I have admired. The original vagina woman Hannah Wilke. Sadly she is no longer with us but her art lives on. Dynamic in working with photography, video and performance pieces. Hannah did a lot of feminist focused work. Rising in the swinging 60s with her vulva sculptures addressing the beauty of women.

In the picture you can see how this work progressed when she combined the sculptures with photography and body art. It may not seem like it but they are little tiny vaginas made from chewing gum. There are a whole series of these pictures but I particularly like this one as it also has a heavy reference to her Jewish heritage. A woman rich in culture, sexuality and creativity.

I find her work fascinating and there is so much to explore. If you haven't heard of Hannah Wilkes before I urge you to go check out some more of her work and explore how it makes you feel.


A name that isn't honoured enough in the UK is that of the saviour to many Harriet Tubman. Extremely important in American history Harriet undertook 17 missions as a union spy to save seventy families from slavery.

Working hard as an activist for fight for human rights and later in life she became a strong advocate for women suffrage, A true example of women having to fight hard for the vote quoted to have said "I have suffered enough to believe it" on if women should be aloud to vote. Something we all now take for granted and so many ignore this privileged. If only we learnt more about women like this in history lessons.


From one great historical figure to another. The struggle of women in the past has been so strong from slavery, to fighting for equality and then on top of that women had to fight for us to be able to be sexually empowered and do so safely.

Lady Helen Brook noticed that family planning and sexual advice services were only being offered to families and the soon to be married, This left a massive hole of the young population in the sexual 60s not getting the important contraception and screening services. So what did she do? Of course she set up the services herself and now under 25s have Helen to thank when they can get free, confidential, and most importantly non-judgemental advice about sex and contraception In the form of 'The Brook Advisory Centres'.


Another woman who sees what she wants and puts in the work to reach out and get it is the spookily gorgeous Helena Bonham Carter. Who would believe that she actually had no acting experience at all and instead won a writing competition and used the winnings to get a profile on an acting database. She worked her way up quickly. Mega kudos points for being in the brilliant 'Absolult fabulous'.

Helena is known for her kooky roles and dark style. In a glamorous world of Hollywood Helena is a Gothic dream come true. When I think of a lot of the films I love you can bet she is probably a part of them...Fight Club, Big Fish, Corpse bride and this year she will be acting in a film honouring the suffragette movement. I am so excited to see how the film is going to turn out.

My last H may not be everyone's cup of tea but for my riot sisters out there you may have come across Honey Bane. I will leave you with some of her music...not bad for a punk girl who broke onto the scene at just 14.


Did I miss any H?

Comments

  1. I LOVE Helena. She is so quirky and there needs to be more people like her in this world.

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  2. So pleased you mentioned Harriet Tubman here, what a legacy! xxx

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  3. What a great post lovely! So many inspirational ladies through history, it is good to give them the recognition they deserve every so often x

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    Replies
    1. I totally agree women like us build us up to be who we are x

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