Aemulus – 2026

Oil on canvas. H60 x W71 CM

Until the early Twentieth Century, male hegemony in the Western World was entrenched. Female roles in society were mostly secondary and predominately domestic.

The Suffragettes struggle against patriarchal domination to achieve recognition and parity for women, was exemplified by violent public demonstrations that often led to imprisonment. Their immediate aim was to obtain the franchise for women but this was part of their endeavor for women’s liberation.

Emmeline Pankhurst was the activist leader and militant champion of woman suffrage. Few people today recognize her portrait which appears in spirit at the top right of the painting. Aemulus, Latin for Emmeline means striving to excel

My contemporary incarnation of Emily’s spirit of liberation