A large-scale art installation is planned to commemorate a local hero – and a call has gone out for an artist to help realise the plans.
Emily Hobhouse, who was born at St Ive in 1860, was a peace activist who also worked to help inmates in the British concentration camps of the Boer War in what is now South Africa in the late 1800s.
Now considered as a national hero in South Africa, Emily and her story have only become known in South East Cornwall in recent years.
Now Liskeard Town Council wants to honour the civil rights campaigner with a series of workshops and a mural to be created on a wall near the town’s Westbourne Car Park.
Mayor Rachel Brooks said: ‘Emily has an international reputation due to her work in the Boer War but she is not so well known locally, and we want to change this.
’One of her many achievements was after the war. She set up a scheme that empowered women who were facing extreme poverty to become financially independent by making a living through textile craft.
‘This has inspired our project, and we are especially keen to hear from artists who have worked with community groups and who would like to develop their arts practice experience.’
The artist would be part of a team including a heritage consultant, Liskeard Town Council, Liskeard and District Museum and a team of volunteers.
The aim of the artist-led workshops will be to explore the craft-making skills and activism of Emily Hobhouse, considering how craft was used to change people’s lives. The outputs from the workshops will be used to develop a two-dimensional art installation.
Anyone interested in finding out more and applying for the artist role should visit www.liskeard.gov.uk/vacancies or call 01579 345407 and ask to speak to Yvette Hayward.