Mothers Institute Projects
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- Projects
Christina Henri - 900 bonnets
- April 2007Christina has been working on artworks inspired by the plight of women forcebly removed to Australia.
- “For crimes that required pitymore than punishment convict women were forcibly migrated around the world. Until 1776, when the War of Independence halted their offloading to America, these unfortunates’ were pawns of the slave trade. From 1788 to 1853 - 25, 266 women were transported to Australia… Convict women were treated as slaves, just stock to barter.
- “Convict women must have required enormous depths of self assurance not to be crushed by the condemnation hurled at them. Language of the day confirmed a convict woman’s degradation. How hard to erase the prevailing belief in their whorishness and worthlessness. Until recently historians perpetuated the ‘immorality’ of convict women and did not look beyond the stigma of moral condemnation."
- Looking for a way to express this, she came upon the idea of using bonnets to represent each woman shipped over in horrific conditions. She has asked for volunteers to create these bonnets (900 in total for this project). To this end we have adopted the ‘Lady Juliana’ as our MI ship. It sailed from Portsmouth on the 29th July 1789 with 206 souls on board.
- Please look at the Ships Manifest and see if there is a name that you may be related to – or maybe just drawn to. Then email us at the MI and we will reserve it for you.
- “Sew a bonnet and be part of history. 25.266 bonnets made with empathy for convict woman who endured much received so little recognition. Their economic and social contribution was enormous, yet the ‘stigma’ shrouding their existence always precluded discussion of their value.”
- Please visit Christina’s website for more details
- Download the bonnet pattern here