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A life-sized bronze sculpture honouring the contribution made by New Zealand’s ‘Land Girls’ during World War 2 has been crafted by a Canterbury artist.
Commissioned by the Geraldine Community Board, the work by Waikari artist Alison Erickson has been installed on public land in the Cox Street Reserve in central Geraldine.
“Alison is clearly a very talented artist,” board chairman Andy McKay said.
“I really admire what she has done. The sculpture is in a prominent place and will be viewed by many.”
Erickson was given a wide brief for the project.
“The theme was ‘yesteryear’ and they didn’t want a saw miller,” she said.
“They talked about the contribution of the women in the district.
“They wanted something that would convey the unseen labour behind the obvious (work women do).”
Erickson travelled to Geraldine to visit the site where the sculpture was to be installed then began research for the project.
“I hadn’t heard about the Land Girls before.
“Somehow I had missed out on this crucial part of our history,” she said.
A massive labour shortage occurred on New Zealand farms during the war, because so many men who had traditionally filled those roles were fighting overseas.
“The women took over the men’s jobs.
“They did everything including fence-making, crutching, slaughtering, ploughing with horses and mustering,” Erickson said.
The Land Girls came from all walks of life and worked seven days a week for the duration of the war, getting Saturday afternoons off to wash their clothes.
Dianne Bardsley’s book, The Land Girls — in a Man’s World 1939-1946, published in 2000, was influential in Erickson’s decision to honour these women with her sculpture.
“In this book I read about some of the experiences of these women working on farms in the Timaru district,” she said.
“They did so much work, raising rural production to record levels.
“I found this history fascinating and I realised that in New Zealand we have very few public sculptures depicting women and their contributions to the development of our country.
“I decided to make a sculpture that depicted an ordinary woman doing the everyday work that women do. I didn’t want to take away from what men have achieved for the district of Timaru, but only to add to that story.”
The sculpture is named Half the Land and Sky. It is inspired by the traditional Chinese proverb “women hold up half the sky” and by Erickson’s experience in the Waikari community.
“During the last three years I have been very involved in setting up a large community garden, where we have been able to grow a lot of food to distribute around the district.’’
In Erickson’s sculpture the woman is holding garlic, carrots and radishes.
“This was directly inspired by the experience of being part of the community efforts at the garden.
“It made me think about the young women during the war and all they had achieved,” she said.