Glasgow based artist, Molly Hankinson, conducted an open call for womxn to be interviewed and to eventually sit for this series of portraits.  

Womxn is an alternative term for the word women which has been regularly in use since 2015 to explicitly include transgender women and women of colour. It has been used in a similar manner as womyn and wimmin, as a rejection of the folk etymology of 'woman' allegedly being 'of man'. Due to transgender women and women of colour's perceived exclusion from the usage of these respellings, an "x" is used to "broaden the scope of womanhood," to include them.

Molly's project sought to gain a wider understanding of contemporary femininity from an intersectional and inclusive perspective. It focused on highlighting and championing the individual’s own experiences, through informal interviews conducted in the subjects’ homes alongside preparatory photographs and drawings taken in situ. The resulting paintings represent the womxn who came forward, creating a visual portal into the intimacies of womxn and non-binary people living in Glasgow today.

Molly’s practice concentrates on the honest and unapologetic representation of womxn and non-binary people through painting, printmaking, and hand-drawn and digital illustration.

She explores themes surrounding (self) representation, reclamation and celebration within the wider realm of contemporary femininity. Her subjects are characterised in a powerful way and are celebrated through the highlighting of shared experiences, achievements and struggles that fall under the intersectional umbrella of womxnhood.

Her work focuses on the aesthetics of bold considered colour placement and use of continuous line to produce unflinching and emphatic compositions which reflect the people present in the work. Often tongue-in-cheek yet inevitably politicised, Molly looks at confronting white feminism’s complicity, taboos surrounding body image and sexuality, and subverts the notion of ‘womxn in the home’ through the reclaiming of interior spaces as a place of safety, ease and power.

Accolades

Fine Art: Painting and Printmaking, The Glasgow School of Art, 2018

Awards: The Graduate Studio Residency, SWG3 Studio Warehouse. Winner of the The Aon Community Art Award, 2018 and 2019. 

Group exhibitions: Leadenhall Building, London. Clash! Vol.1 Topic: Femininity, South Block, Glasgow 2019. Weans World II, Glasgow 2019.

Molly Hankinson is also including Well Done Mr Morgan! in the Christmas Auction.