An ambitious arts project has brought artists and young people from Bishop Auckland together to uncover the stories of a group of women, who have spent the best part of 4,000 years going unnoticed.
The Missing Women project was inspired by Francisco de Zurbarán’s celebrated series of paintings, Jacob and His Twelve Sons, which have hung in Auckland Castle’s Long Dining Room for over 250 years.
While much is known about those portrayed in the collection of epic biblical paintings (Jacob. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin), the lives of the women who lived with them have gone largely unrecorded.
It is the stories of these five ‘missing women’ that have provided the foundations of the six-month project, devised to look at the idea of giving these women a voice and provide more than 60 young people with the opportunity to work with arts professionals to explore themes and methods of self-expression.
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Missing Women culminates in a series of four engaging exhibitions, across Bishop Auckland, in County Durham in March, starting on International Women’s Day today (March 8).
Each of the professional artists - Jilly Johnston, Lady Kitt, Leanne Pearce, Lizzie Lovejoy and Edwina Kung - have been commissioned to paint a life-size portrait of one of the women.
Charlotte Grobler, curator at Auckland Castle, said: “There are paintings of Jacob and his sons and they've hung in the castle for hundreds of years, but Jacob didn't just have sons in his family.
“He had wives and he had a daughter, so we wanted to look at why these women weren't represented and to find a way to tell their stories.”
The portraits will be exhibited at both Auckland Castle and Bishop Auckland Town Hall until May 28.
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Twice Sky Portrait Artist of the Year participant, Gateshead-based Leanne Pearce has painted Dinah, who was raped at the hands of Shechem, a Hivite prince, prompting her brothers to seek vengeance on every man in the city of Shechem.
Jilly Johnston, who has painted, Leah. She said: “It’s a privilege to paint a ‘matriarch’ of the Old Testament and literally paint her back into the history of the Zurbarán series, in the Castle and into a story where she belongs.
“We hope that this will make visitors think about other people who do amazing things, have a story to tell and get ‘written out’ of history like Leah. I’m going to enjoy seeing her framed and placed into Auckland Castle for International Women’s Day.”
Kate Gorman, Creative Producer, of Missing Women, said: “It has been hugely rewarding to see the engagement of the young people with the project and to hear what they have to say – and to provide a platform for them to be able to say this loud and clear.
“Their creativity and insight has been phenomenal throughout the project.”
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Missing Women is a collaborative project led by Creative Youth Opportunities, The Auckland Project and Bishop Auckland Town Hall.
It has been funded by Arts Council England, County Durham Community Foundation and Art Fund.
Michelle Harland, Managing Director, Creative Youth Opportunities, said: “Missing Women has been a wonderful opportunity for us to work with young people with a breadth of life experiences and use art as a tool for them to develop new knowledge and skills and for their self-awareness and confidence to flourish.”
The Missing Women exhibition will be split between Bishop Auckland Town Hall (March 8 to May 13) and Auckland Castle (March 8 to May 28).
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