Clare Short
, former Secretary of State for International Development, regards power in its historical context.
She suggests that it is a mistake to link the moral content of socialism to any one approach to social or economic organisation.
Quoting the former Russian President Gorbachev, she says: 'Peasants have always taken tomatoes to market' meaning markets are not all evil but distorted power and great inequality are.
History teaches that the concentration of power into very few hands, regardless of gender, invariably leads to exploitation of the powerless.
This work includes an image of the sculpture
Venus de Vienne
(Aphrodite bathing) from the cover of
Pallas
, a progressive arts magazine published in Buenos Aires in 1912. Three folds in the flesh of Aphrodite's abdomen create a realistic impression of a woman rather than a representation of femininity distorted and idealised by the
male gaze
.
This artwork is part of socialart.work, a mass public art project calling for greater social justice.
It aims to create debate about power and gender, women's equality and masculinity, alternative forms of economic and social organisation, black power, and solidarity between people from different backgrounds and ethnicities.
It includes posters, publications and events supported in 2018-19 by the artist's residency with leading Out of Home media company
Clear Channel UK.