Seven years, over 100,000 miles and a cornucopia of locations from a Team GB boxing ring to the House of Lords: the one hundred portraits that comprise the First Women project are finally complete! In this blog, Anita reflects on her experiences of creating this extraordinary collection… ‘From the moment I conceived of First Women, it was as if it took on a life of it’s own. Almost as if it had a ‘will’ to be completed and I was just facilitating that,’ says Anita. ‘I read more
Lara was the first woman to win the Mongol Derby – and doesn’t seem phased by much at all. Using ‘fear as the inspiration to seek out truth’ her adventurous life-view led Lara to compete in and win one of the toughest horse races in the world when she was just 19. ‘The Mongol Derby is the longest, toughest horserace and I was convinced I wouldn’t finish’ ‘You ride twenty-five ponies over 1000km. Most competitors take a year to prepare – I stumbled in 6 weeks before, read more
The First Woman to win ‘One Man and His Dog’ – in the face of ‘competition, small-mindedness and having been put down by most men in the dog running world all my life.’ ‘When I was invited to participate in One Man and His Dog, I thought it was a joke’ But it was true. They called me and invited me to take part. My dad came to watch me – and for the first time he was proud of me. I had been so wild as a child, I was terrible at school and he’d never come to watch me do read more
35 years on, the Visible Girls are still drawing crowds. This time, it was the punks taking centre stage at the Punk Weekender. The event was held at The Photographers’ Gallery in central London, the original independent gallery dedicated to the photographic image. It wasn’t their first visit, either. It was in 1984 that the Visible Girls first adorned those walls and there they were again, 32 years later: Shelley and Di, Badger and Maria, Margi and Samantha – not framed prints this read more
One of our core values at the First Women project is education. Education about the pioneering spirit and the socio-historical role of women. Education to help us better understand our culture and its values. Education to engender the passion to ask questions, provoke thought and instigate discussion on these topics. All of this ultimately brings about progress, cultural evolution, and positive change, subjects close to the heart of the First Women project. In this spirit, it has been a read more
‘If you go into your creative work trying to make something happen, the work may not cooperate with you,’ explains Dame Hilary Mantel, first woman to win the Man Booker prize consecutively for her novels, ‘Wolf Hall’ and ‘Bring up the Bodies’. Mantel talks about her craft in a way that gives it a very tangible spirit – as alive almost as one of her extraordinarily imagined characters. First Women invited her to share her thoughts on the art of writing the novel, choosing a good read more
It’s hard talking to adventurer Felicity Aston without exclaiming, ‘wow!’ every few seconds. The first woman to ski solo across Antarctica, Aston, throughout her adventuring life has experienced the sort of mind-bending risk and isolation that for many of us is impossible to imagine. Alone for weeks on end in temperatures of -30C and ‘scared permanently for two months’, Aston explains what drives her to these pioneering feats of extraordinary human endurance. If an idea won’t leave read more
Over my 35-year career as a photographer, I have walked through Metro Imaging’s doors hundreds of times. But tonight was special. Tonight, those doors were emblazoned with the striking images of ‘Lynne and Penny’, two of my Visible Girls photographs on public show tonight for the first time in 35 years. An hour or so later would see the arrival of a BBC TV crew (headed by David Sillito), two documentary filmmakers, a host of over 100 excited visitors and – most importantly – a read more
Zaha Hadid was the definitive ‘First Woman’. Innovative, pioneering, courageous, she pushed the boundaries of the creative and survived – even thrived – in a tough, strenuously competitive environment as first woman to receive the Pritzker Prize for Architecture and just this year the first woman to win the RIBA Royal Gold Medal. From the beginning I wanted to celebrate Zaha by including her portrait within the First Women Project and had chased her for five years! Zaha read more
Comedian, TV presenter, author – and First Woman to win the prestigious Edinburgh Festival comedy award in its 15 year history. Jenny speaks to ‘First Women’ from her home in London where, she assures us, ‘there are still no diamond-studded loo seats.’ ‘I can still remember wining the Perrier’ It was a genuinely exciting moment. Yes, the fact that I was the first woman was at the front of my mind because the press had made such a hoo-ha about it. I’d had a read more
