David Cotterill, Please STOP! (ART & OBJECTS 2023)

Photos:

Self

Like many of us I am appalled by the violence against women in our society and have carved a number of statues depicting powerful women and mythical figures. When I sourced a shot ridden log I wanted to create something that expressed the fear so many woman live with in our community. I was told this Flooded Gum had spent its last four decades standing next to a clay target shooting range. Over the years it had been hit many times by wayward shotgun fire, surviving and growing around the embedded shot until 2019 when it was uprooted in a violent storm. Weighing in at 100kgs the metre long section was too heavy for me to move around so I carved it on the back of my ute. I was amazed to find shotgun pellets more than 100mm deep (I’ll include a photo). The “blasted” side of the log has become the back of the woman who is cowering in fear. We have “please touch” signs in my wife’s clinic where I display some of my work and what we’ve noticed is that when visitors read what she represents they usually look a little sad as they gently stroke her back.

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