Goldsmiths artist’s Chelsea Manning bust brings ‘21st century relevance’ to public sculpture

An artist is planning a bronze head and shoulders of Chelsea Manning for her Welsh hometown as part of a bid for us to think about how public sculpture can be relevant in the 21^st century. 

Former US Army intelligence analyst Manning is serving a 35-year prison sentence after disclosing to WikiLeaks a huge cache of classified documents.

Chelsea spent a number of years in Haverfordwest where she attended Tasker Milward secondary school before returning to the US.

John Reardon, artist-in-residence and part-time lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Goldsmiths, University of London is the country’s only practising artist with a residency in a university politics department.

He has met and discussed the proposed work with Manning’s mother Susan and uncle Kevin, who come from and continue to live in the West Wales town.

Reardon writes: “Rather than celebrating those who have already been rewarded with rank, celebrity or wealth, I want to focus on an individual of extraordinary courage, but who does not sit comfortably within the canon of the powerful and respected.

“I’m interested in bringing the kind of global, and sometimes abstract-seeming, events that Chelsea is associated with into clearer relation to a concrete place: the local community of Haverfordwest.”

Because there are no recent photographs of Manning – she began transitioning in prison – Reardon’s planned bronze bust is based on an illustration by Philadelphia artist Alicia Neal.

Neal developed her illustration using a self-portrait drawn by Manning and through written conversation with her from Fort Leavenworth military prison, Kansas, where she is serving her sentence. Digital files created from Neal’s illustration will be used to make a bronze cast at London Bronze Casting in Deptford, South London.

The bronze head and shoulders will sit on a Portland stone plinth, the same material used for The Cenotaph war memorial and many other public sculptures in the UK. Reardon is currently raising funds for this via IndieGoGo.

Multidisciplinary artist John Reardon is an AHRC Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations where he teaches on the MA Art & Politics. He makes single and co-authored work, work under a shared name or title, as well as anonymous work.

He has recently returned from participating in the Setouchi Triennale, Japan, with collaborating artist Hyemin Son and others as part of the Minor Adjustment Collective. 

From October to December 2016 he will be participating in a public art events and exhibitions in Seoul, London and Beijing. 

Visit the IndieGoGo generosity.com fundraising page and johnreardon.info for more information.