#open eye

I'm not ready too😅

“If we consider the ecliptic to be the fundamental reference circle, then we shift to the Ecliptic Coordinate System.”

“The Sun remains in each Zodiac Constellation from 6.5 to 44 days. Modern science is easily capable of precisely determining the position of the Sun within the boundaries of the Zodiac Constellations.”

Astrology of the 13 Signs of the Zodiac

Orbit Culture - Open Eye

“Ananda” - Bliss is an essence that lives in the loving wisdom of light & colour

209 women opened in Open Eye Gallery on the 28th February and closes on the 14th April, this exhibition is held to celebrate the number of women currently in parliament. This exhibition is marking the centenary of the Representation of People Act, passed in 1918, which allowed women the right to vote, and by extension sit in the House of Commons.

Previously to this exhibition featured at Open Eye Gallery, a smaller exhibition that did not feature all the photographs was shown at the Portcullis House within Westminster.

This exhibition is crowded with 209 photographs, of varying sizes, featuring female MPs of all different towns and cities, but without the party to which they belong. I believe that to not tell the visitor the party of which the politician belongs is beneficial as it takes away any prejudice that one may have to any particular party; instead, it allows the visitor to celebrate the few women who are politicians rather than focusing on their party. Some were disturbed by the placement of Theresa May within the women, especially due to her being the highest placed photograph in the first room; however, I see it as a celebration of having a female Prime Minister, and we have only had two female Prime Ministers out of sixty-nine or twenty-two since the Representation of People Act was passed.

Women, 209 out of 650, occupy 32% of the seats in the House of Commons. This is the highest number of women sitting in the House of Commons since 1918. I believe this statistic shows that although we have gained a certain level of equality, there is still a long way to go before the genders are truly equal. Aston Martin and The Power of Women TV series, both male-dominated industries, supports the exhibition, further highlighting the need to get the genders equal. Since the passing of the Representation of People Act, 491 women have sat in the House of Commons, compared to the 4503 men who have sat since 1918.

A critique I have about this exhibition is that there are no public programmes to accompany the exhibition. The inclusion of a public programme could have helped open up a conversation about how to get better equality for women in male-dominated fields, or even start a conversation about what it is like being a female politician. The only information that accompanies this exhibition is the introductory texts, no gallery guide; I would argue that having more information about women in politics would be beneficial to give a deeper understanding to the public who may not have thought about the plights of female politicians before. Even information on some of the legislation passed by these women would have been a welcomed edition, further emphasising the development and change installed by female politicians.

The curation of the gallery is interesting being a salon-hang rather than the usual eye-level hang that is almost expected within a contemporary gallery space. Though with such a small space, fitting 209 photographs would have been difficult should the curator had whished them to be all hung at eye-level. Though with the salon-hang, it makes the photographs higher up more difficult to observe and see, I often found myself when visiting this exhibition, craning my neck to an uncomfortable level.

Overall, I found this exhibition a good celebration of women, though was underwhelmed with the lack of information and public programmes. Though, I would recommend this exhibition to anyone considering visiting this exhibition.