Megan Broadmeadow

Commissioned for Locws 4 in Swansea. This floating sculpture was inspired by the maritime history of the Swansea and the wider nautical world, which she initially perceived to be very masculine, particularly within the history of Swansea. In further investigations however, I also discovered that the nautical tradition holds reverence to the female form. The boat is a 'she' vessel, cradling the lives of the men who sail in her hull. In response to this, I created a floating sculpture of a high-heeled shoe, which has masts and sails, and presents the ultimate female ship.

The high-heeled shoe represents the femininity issues surrounding the nautical world and the shopping culture omnipresent in every city. The work also links to the Swansea cockle women, those women who only wore shoes to enter the market, their simple life almost a million miles away from the highly groomed lifestyles of today.