Hypatia Women: Celine Elliot

Celine Elliot works with the Cornwall Museums Partnership, leading their programme of engagement support for museums in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Her work in Cornwall has allowed Celine to focus her attention on the diverse and inspirational organisations within the museum community here.   In 2020, Celine was awarded an inaugural UK National Arts Strategies (NAS) Creative Community Fellowship.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? Recently, I’m chuffed to simply get through the week – homeschooling during lockdown and working full-time is a challenge I’d prefer not to have met. In broader terms, I feel fortunate to have an interesting, rewarding career, actively contributing to society while living in Cornwall; there has been a pervasive narrative that you have to leave in order achieve but there are increasing opportunities with creative, innovative organizations here.   What motivates you to do what you do? I believe that museums and galleries can play an active role and fundamentally be useful to the communities around them and I am motivated to find new ways to explore this constantly.   What do you owe your mother? A love of reading.   Which women inspire you and why? Too many to choose from! Jacinda Ardern and Greta Thunberg spring to mind as modern-day leaders. The Bowdown podcast and Instagram account is a constant source of inspiration to me for women artists who have largely been written out of history.   What are you reading? The Black Lives Matters movement encouraged me to consciously read more by black writers, including Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge, Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala, Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams and Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid. However, my standout recommendation from recent reading is Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo – I still miss the characters.   What gender barriers have you had to hurdle? I think having children can present career barriers; this is an issue for society and negatively impacts everyone. I have been fortunate in my chosen path and work with an amazingly supportive team while sharing childcare with my partner but I recognise that this is not the case for everyone and needs addressing urgently.   How can the world be made a better place for women? I am excited by the increasing understanding of the rights of everyone: an inclusive, progressive and compassionate recognition beyond binary definitions can benefit the whole of society. I am inspired through working with younger people who are largely wholly accepting of a wider range of identities irrespective of gender that has been assigned at birth. In addition, the development of feminism which recognises and centres the narratives of black women, POC and working-class women – as opposed to a version which largely ignored any groups outside a privileged, white, cis-gendered discourse – gives me hope for a more equitable future for everyone.   Describe your perfect day? It involves swimming outdoors, no time constraints, happy children, a dog walk, a good book and an Aperol Spritz.   We've noticed there really aren't many (if any) statues of women around Cornwall - who would you like to see remembered? I’m not a big fan of statues: I liked Dolly Parton’s recent polite rebuttal of one in her honour. I think resources would be better used for the urgent care of those currently living in Cornwall, not least of all young parents, who I have had the good fortune to encounter through working in partnership with WILD Young Parents , and the incredible young people who are care experienced that I have met through work with Carefree Cornwall . Lots of this work has been made possible by working with incredible artists and creative practitioners here in Cornwall, so I think we need to expand our understanding of the powerful role the arts play in society beyond statues.   Give us a tip?

You never regret getting outside in my experience. Even better, get in the sea if you can.

Hypatia Women: Jess Henshall

Jess Henshall is 21 years old and is a writer and jewellery maker based in Newlyn, Cornwall. She is one half of the father and daughter collaborative studio Shadowed Earth, and makes sustainable jewellery from 100% recycled silver and gold from her tiny shed studio overlooking Newlyn harbour. Her writing focusses on distilling the world around her, looking at our small connections to the landscape and each other. She is currently in her final year of a BA in Creative Writing at Falmouth University.  You can find Jess at www.shadowedearth.co.uk , and @shadowedearth on Instagram and Twitter .   

 

What do you consider your greatest achievement?  

Finding my creative voice. Studying at Falmouth University has played a huge part in that, and so has the battle with my mental and physical health, that fight to be well and to find my place in the world. My happiness is definitely intertwined with my creativity, and finding that voice has allowed me a sense of belonging and purpose.    What motivates you to do what you do?  

Writing has always been a form of relief for me, and a way of connecting with the world when I felt alienated from it. When I was in my first year at uni studying creative writing I found my creativity exploded in that nurturing environment but I needed a physical craft, something that could take me out of my mind as a balance to writing, and this is when I started making jewellery. There was something about its process and the finality of reaching a point of completion which was quite different to my experience with writing where I often wouldn’t feel satisfied with the end result. Writing and making jewellery balanced my creativity, and in turn balanced me.  At the same time as this, I became disabled by chronic pain and mobility restrictions due to a debilitating hip condition, which rapidly altered my everyday life. Jewellery making became not only a relief from writing, but an escape from my body because it was something external to me. When I’m making jewellery or writing, I find I reach a meditative state either through the repetitive motions of working with silver, or through connecting to my surroundings through distilling it into words. I’ve found I struggle to connect to traditional meditation, because when I tune into my body I become intensely aware of all the pain it is harbouring.   

Writing and jewellery making are two halves of a whole which keeps me balanced. They are different channels of my creativity which work together to keep me connected to the world and offer relief from my physical restrictions.  

What do you owe your mother?  

Everything. My compassion; my ethics; my strength. She’s the woman who gave me life and taught me to fight to be alive. She’s always encouraged me to seek solutions to problems instead of being consumed by them, and to know my own power. She’s my favourite thing about the world.     

Which women inspire you and why?  

So many women inspire me, but especially the young female makers I’ve got to know through my own craft. I’m constantly inspired by their passion, their drive, their support for each other. I’m in awe at their creativity and how they translate the world through their works. There’s so much power in creativity, but it often isn’t nurtured or valued. I’m a big believer in the potential for creativity to enact positive change on the world, so being able to see these incredible makers grow and flourish in a world that often doesn’t support that journey is so inspiring.   

  What are you reading?  

At the moment I’m in the last term of my degree at Falmouth University, so most of my reading is research for final assignments, although I am slowly reading Jay Griffiths’ Wild and savouring every page. Her ability to weave ecology, travel, etymology, history, and personal narrative is quite extraordinary. I also find myself constantly returning to Isabel Galleymore’s Cyanic Pollens and Isabella Tree’s Wilding.    What gender barriers have you had to hurdle? There are likely embedded gender hurdles I’m sure I’ve had to overcome, but are so ingrained in our lives it’s like I’ve stopped noticing, and many gender hurdles I’ve been very privileged to not have to face. I’d say the main gender barriers are the ones I’ve put up myself, the ones society teaches us and we subliminally absorb. Through language (both verbal and how I hold my body) I find I’m constantly softening myself in an attempt to be palatable, as if occupying space and speaking up were in some way off-putting. I have had to consciously change my judgement of myself and my judgement of others. As women we can just as easily perpetuate patriarchal ideologies as men, and studying Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber taught me a lot about how women must not collude in their own victimisation, or that of others. As Simone De Beauvoir once famously wrote, ‘one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman’; society teaches passivity and objectification, and each of us has a part to play in dismantling that.    How can the world be made a better place for women? Ensuring the rights of ALL women. It has to be more intersectional; until everyone who identifies as a woman has equal rights and are equally valued and listened to, the world is not a good place for women. We need to broaden our definition of what a woman is. We’re often given such singular, white-cisgender narratives as examples of a woman, but whole societies aren’t made up of that singular narrative, and neither are individuals. The history of woman’s rights movements have been incredibly whitewashed, with many movements only fighting for the rights of white, English-speaking, upper-middle-class women, in many ways matching the dominant voice in society of white, heterosexual, privileged men. I have no doubt that I’ve benefited from many aspects of those systems. Thankfully this is now being challenged, but there is still so much work to do to ensure we don’t leave whole groups of women behind.    Describe your perfect day? Morning: waking with the late-spring sun for a dip in the sea, drinking hot chocolate on the beach to warm up, then going home to make jewellery, working on new designs and fulfilling orders in my tiny shed studio overlooking the bay. I’d then make something simple for lunch using whatever veg we have in the fridge – I find these are often some of the best meals.  Afternoon: after lunch, a bit more time in the studio, and then around mid-afternoon I’d read and write in the garden where the sun’s warmth spills into early evening. Evening: spending time with my family, cooking flatbreads and vegetables over an open flame, our hair filling with the smell of wood smoke.  In an ideal world, I would spend the day up and active, walking miles and absorbing myself in this incredible landscape. Unfortunately the reality is I don’t have a body which will allow it, so my days are broken up by a lot of physical rest and my evenings are spent in pain in bed with hot water bottles and painkillers. I’m managing to build a life around my disability, but sometimes I wish I could have a pain-free day to not feel trapped in my body.    We've noticed there really aren't many (if any) statues of women around Cornwall - who would you like to see remembered? Fishing is an incredibly male dominated industry, I see it everyday in Newlyn, however throughout history there has been a very strong female presence such as the women working behind the scenes gutting fish as part of Newlyn’s old pilchard works. In the heart of Newlyn we’re also lucky enough to have the UK’s first female master fishmonger, Elaine Lorys. I think recognition of this side of the industry would be incredible, not necessarily a statue of one individual, but something representative of these women who have historically and presently played a key role in Newlyn’s fishing industry.    Give us a tip? Where you can, create choice for yourself. Trust that the decisions you make are the right ones in those moments.  Forgive yourself for being human.

Hypatia Women: Dr. Sherezade García Rangel

Dr Sherezade García Rangel is a Venezuelan writer and podcaster based in Falmouth, Cornwall. She is the founder, producer and host of the award-winning On The Hill podcast about Cornish cemeteries and the stories buried within. She is a Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Falmouth University. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Newcastle University and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow. Her work has been published in Gutter Magazine, Hwearf, FalWriting, From Glasgow to Saturn, Miscellaneous: An Anthology Inspired by The Hunterian and others.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?   Fully believing in myself. This might be an awkward answer, but this was a hard skill to learn and one that has informed much of the achievements I have been able to make. A version of this belief must have been present before; I have always counted on the support of my family. But it took me a while to actually, truly believe in myself, believe those who loved me and said I could, and believe I could do the things I wanted to do at the level that I wanted to do them.   There was a moment when this happened, a distinct before and after: my PhD viva at Glasgow in November 2015. I had been living in Brussels at the end of my PhD, pushed there by a cancellation of my funding due to changes in Venezuela amidst a horrible crisis where students were being shot at and wounded in the streets. I had hated having to leave. I love Glasgow, and felt something was taken from me. I also hated not being able to do much for Venezuela and felt keenly the irony of my own privilege. At that time in my life, many things converged and 2014 was a bit of an annus horribilis, so when I got to Brussels in January 2015 and had to end my PhD, I was at a very low point. It was clear that something needed to change, so I began a process of walking, meditating, and focusing on finishing my novel and PhD with one purpose in mind: If I am going to do this, if I am going to finish, I am going to do this my way. If I crash and burn, bring it. Coincidentally, this too was the time I began listening to podcasts, thanks to a recommendation from a friend – something which would be significant later on.   This purpose carried me through finishing my novel, through recovering both emotionally and physically, and through to preparing for my viva. A friend has suggested that I leave a day free to walk and relax before the big event, to allow myself to enjoy it. I did that, and it worked. I was nervous, at times physically shaking, but I was ready. Let me crash and burn if I have to, but I did what I wanted, how I wanted, to the level that I wanted, and now I get to talk about it, awesome. Bless my examiners for telling me right away that I had passed and that we were just going to have a conversation about it. What a wonderful time that was. This was the first time someone unknown to me had read my novel and most importantly, had actually got it – not just liked it, but got it. They understood it: not what I wanted to do, but what I had actually done. One of them, a very talented Scottish writer, completely got what I was trying to do, all the nuances, all the layering, and the weird structure. I had turned so inward with this project, had put everything on the line for this, and it was beyond my expectations that it had gone so well.   After it was over, I walked out of the building and through campus in a daze. Called my family, went to celebrate with my friends, danced in the basement of Òran Mór , drank every whisky I got offered and was somehow magically sober the next day. When my friends and supervisor asked me if I had any corrections, I didn’t know for sure. The confirmation came a week later. I had passed without corrections on a Creative Writing PhD, at a Russell Group University, in a foreign language. And I had done it doing the thing I wanted to do, listening to myself and believing in the worth of what I was doing. I had done it through the hardest years of my life, with my world crumbling at every corner. I’ll never forget that feeling and the lesson has carried me through new challenges. Do your thing, Shere, do it your way. It will be worth it.     What motivates you to do what you do?   I’m endlessly curious and deeply love to learn. A lecturer once called me self-propelled. I like the nuances of things and the things unsaid and I am fascinated by ancient history, especially that which is off the beaten track. Art and literature too are great sources of inspiration. Overall, I think what motivates me to do what I do is a sense of the rare opportunity I have been given and the importance of doing something valuable with it. I am motivated by a desire to help Venezuela and my family in the best way I can.   What do you owe your mother?   Everything. My mum and I are physically and mentally very similar. I’m the rebellious, disruptive side of the coin and she is the steady, more conservative one. She loves to learn and loves to travel, and was a big push when deciding whether going abroad would be a positive thing.   I owe her my attention to detail, my creative problem solving, my handcrafting skills, my empathic side. My mum is an architect and artist, and firmly the other creative/humanities person in my nuclear family. She has this saying which used to annoy us all and has proven very useful, whenever we asked a question or had a problem she says: Use your imagination . I always think about that whenever I’m stuck. Is there a creative way of solving this, of getting a better result?   Which women inspire you and why?   So many, it’s hard to choose. Mostly my friends and colleagues, my sisters, my grandmas. I already talked about mum. These women tackle their life in amazing, creative and inspiring ways and I love collaborating with women. In my podcast On The Hill I’ve had the chance to do so more closely too, and to provide opportunities for them to do creative, lovely things.    Seeing my sister become a mother has been amazing too, and I am in awe at the person my little niece is becoming. How do we inspire them to be their full selves – that is something I think about a lot lately.     What are you reading?   Driving Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, which is the latest book in my book club, Breadth Book Club. I am also relistening to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, which was recommended to me by a student a few years ago and has me shamelessly laughing in public. It’s set in Scotland and I love getting to listen to the Glaswegian accent again too.     What gender barriers have you had to hurdle?   Many, both gender and based on my status as a Venezuelan and immigrant. The most pervasive one tends to be a general undermining of my achievements, experience, criteria and/or knowledge. From harassment to minimizing or mansplaining, the experience is common, and I don’t know any women who haven’t experienced something like this. Male academics tend to be taken more seriously in my experience. A while ago I was invited to a talk with other speakers. They announced the male academic as ‘Dr.’, but ignored mine.   I had to point this out to those running the event, and whilst it was corrected, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.     How can the world be made a better place for women?   We cannot stop fighting for equal rights, equal pay and for an inclusive, intersectional, open understanding of what a woman is. This has a huge cost, emotionally, psychologically, and socially and I have been chastised by family and friends for saying something or not backing away from a fight. It used to weigh on me, but no longer. This is the hill where you’ll find me. We must do what we can where we are, we must hand over a better place to the next generation. I am incredibly grateful to the women who made it possible for me to work, go to university, vote, own my own things, have a right to my family. We will do this by learning from the barriers we encountered, by challenging them, by fighting for our full humanity to be enshrined in law. We will do it by not settling for anything less.     Describe your perfect day?   At this point, I would love a day of rest. This year has been non-stop, and I’ve had amazing opportunities which I adore, but a perfect day would be one where I get to do anything non-productive I want, with a crystal-clear mind which isn’t overthinking about all the work that needs doing. A day where I can rest in my power as I recharge.   We've noticed there really aren't many (if any) statues of women around Cornwall - who would you like to see remembered?   In Falmouth, I am very curious about the Fox sisters and an installation would be fitting to remember them to the town. Legend Winnifred Freeman, riding on her bicycle, canvas tied to her back and cigar on her mouth would make an amazing statue. I would also like to see a statue commemorating Ingrid Jacoby, author and Jewish survivor, brought to Cornwall on the kindertransport. She lived in Falmouth from 1939 to 1944.  
Give us a tip?   Nurture and pursue the mad ideas, they are by far the best ones.