Bodies of water part 6: Boudicca (2021) Schilderij door Els Devrieze

"Bodies of water." A series of paintings about women symbolised as water.

Why water? First of all, for ecological reasons, our waters, seas, oceans, are in need. They are choked by plastic and pollution.
Water is the most magical element on earth. It exists as solid, liquid and gas. Water is life, fertility. All water on earth has been here since the beginning. Water can be soft and offer salvation, but it can also be a destructive force of nature against which nothing can stand.

I chose admirable women from history who also fought for their "right" to exist to represent our waters by giving their names to the paintings.

Boudicca (aka Boadicea or Boudica) brings us to the queen of the Celtic tribe Iceni and the inspiration for this series. After reading her impressive story, the idea of using women as protectors and turning them into bodies of water was born.
Boudicca is the word for victory in the Celtic language. And that should not come as a surprise.
In Celtic society, women were not allowed to have possessions and they had no right to decide about their own lives. As the widow of King Prasutagus, she was denied the throne and her palace. This was not without a struggle: she was publicly whipped and her daughters raped by Roman soldiers.
This however did not stop her from mobilising her entire people and other disgruntled tribes and led them as a merciless tidal wave of resistance through the main Roman settlements. They burned Londium, the current British capital, and that was the only time in history that this city was completely destroyed.

In the end, she had to acknowledge the superiority of the tactically and better-equipped Roman army. However, the Roman writer Tacitus sings the praises of her leadership qualities and perseverance. Just before the Roman victory over Boudicca, she is said to have motivated her troops with the following words: "On this spot, we must either conquer or die with glory, there is no alternative." An unprecedented honour for a woman at the time.
Even today Boudicca is a source of inspiration for female British leaders. With Queen Victoria, she shared the meaning of their name ("victory"). Moreover, Queen Victoria named a warship after her and had a statue designed for the woman. She inspired Queen Elizabeth I to design an outfit based on Boudicca's costume when she encouraged her troops in defence against the Spanish Armada.
Isn't it fantastic how the story of one woman born in a woman-unfriendly world can bring different peoples together in a fight for freedom and continue to inspire world leaders today?

Verwante thema's

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