'A Woman's Place'

Yesterday, I visited Castle Drogo to see its current exhibition 'A Woman's Place' which is installed until the end of March and is timed to coincide with International Women's Day which was held earlier in the month.
The exhibition brings together the work of 15 female artists, each exploring hidden stories through a range of mediums including ceramics, textiles, painting and three-dimensional work. Together, the pieces demonstrate a shared ambition to uncover and reinterpret stories that have often gone untold, as is so often the case with women who work unseen.
Set within the imposing and decidedly masculine interior of Castle Drogo, the exhibition uses the historic setting in a way that creates a powerful effect. Works are displayed throughout the building, inviting visitors to come across them almost as if those women were there in the rooms and spaces they inhabit, creating a strong but eerie connection between past and present.
Sara Venner, of the Herding Cats Arts Collective, said: “The Herding Cats Arts Collective is honoured to represent the women of Drogo at 'A Woman's Place' exhibition this March within the solid walls of Castle Drogo. It has been fascinating working with the Castle Drogo historians team to delve into the life of those who walked the corridors of the castle. As artists, we are the voices of the women lost to history, revealing feminine lives lived in different times. I feel my work has been enriched by its historical context.”
By weaving contemporary artistic responses into the fabric of the castle itself, the exhibition creates an immersive experience, one that encourages visitors to reflect on the lives of women who once lived and worked at the castle, and those whose stories are only now being brought into the light.
The exhibition begins with three sets of shoes laid out close to the wall, the piece bearing the names of those who had worked at the castle and demonstrating how these employees would have had to keep 'close to the walls', to remain inconspicuous and quiet but work hard and ensure the smooth running of things from behind the scenes.
We see a teapot made from tissue paper, listing names of young domestic staff and, in the grand dining room which is laid out for a sumptuous party, there is a hand-stitched piece with the words: “Know your place is often said to women throughout the years, by those that think a woman must obey: keep quiet my dears. A woman should do housework chores from dawn into the night. Cooking, cleaning, sewing, keeping quiet, do not fight. But times do change and women too, they rally to be seen. Rebel against the sewing and the cooking, no more will we clean.”

Two of the instalments stood out most for me: the first being a selection of hand crafted cushions by Vanessa Allen. They are symbolic of the women who are themselves the very foundation stones upon which the 'downstairs' domestic life is built. Vanessa says in her description: “'The architecture of belonging'...explores the theme of women as the foundational architects of domestic and communal life. Drawing on data from the 1939 Register, the project celebrates some of the individual women listed, whose labour formed the unseen infrastructure of every day living within the castle.” I was very taken with this thought; that in a castle made of hardened stone, built by a man who decided he wanted to build a statement to his wealth and position, there was the very beginning, the very foundation, built by women who allowed Mr Drewe his vision of the life he wished to live.

The second piece which struck me was in the kitchen. Castle Drogo's kitchen has always been the template in my head of what my dream kitchen would look like, and here on the magnificent round table was a ceramic cake. Beautifully crafted in and of itself, artist Annie Langman shows her audience how the role of women in history hasn't changed and is still present and relevant today. Her three tiers represent the layers of constant work carried out by women in the castle, and the words attached to each layer demonstrate the women's roles – organiser, educator, cook, cleaner, lover – roles which women today still take on. And not just one of those roles, but all of them at once. Inside the cake on the top tier is the secret woman, the one who must never be seen; saucy, mistress. Yet the piece of the cake cut out from the whole, which is a celebration of all of these facets of a woman, states 'loyal'. No further words from me are needed.

The exhibition runs until the end of March and is free, with normal admission fees to the castle applying. If you're at a loose end this weekend, I would highly recommend it.