The Brank is the name of a new ongoing project by Ruth Ewan made up of several parts, which will build the starting point of the exhibition in Hohenlockstedt. Taking its title from the description below the projects interlink empathetic cultural references, considering traces and residues of individuals and groups who have been ‘branked’ i.e. muffled, oppressed or silenced in differing respects as a result of ‘moral panic’.
The exhibition proposes the idea of Demnatio Memoriae – the removal of memory – in regard to early modern European methods of oppressing women linked to communist persecution of the early 20th century. The term relates to one of the most severe punishments of Ancient Rome: the practice of damnatio memoriae was to remove every trace of the individual, as if they never existed.
The starting point of Ewan’s project is a ‘brank’ or ‘scold’s bridle’ which was a torture device used on women throughout the Middle Ages in Scotland, England and Wales. Throughout Europe similar devices were used such as Der Maulkorb in Germnay. The brank was a muzzle made of iron and worn on the head to prevent the wearer from speaking.
It was mainly issued as a form of punishment under the ‘common scold’ act (which was not officially abolished in England and Wales until 1967) on working class women who were accused of witchcraft, spreading gossip, ‘nagging’, or behaving in a ‘riotous’ manner. The device was also used a form of corporal punishment for other offences, used on women in the workhouse and at home as a form of domestic punishment to be issued by husbands.
The work will draw on the current cultural residue of the early modern European witch trials, using images of ‘witches’ from Western popular sources a large series of works using manipulated printed matter will be produced. This work will stands in the context of found objects, works of paper and other ephemeral the artist has collected.
Another person that will be connected with the project is Paul Robeson (1898 – 1976), an internationally famous actor, singer, athlete, writer, multi-linguist and activist. Having become one of the most renowned cultural figures of the early 20th century for his performances on stage and screen his later persecution by the US and UK governments and media led to a virtual erasure of Robeson from mainstream culture and history.
At the height of his fame Robeson became a decidedly political artist, speaking out against fascism and racism, committed to socialism and anti-colonialism. Throughout the 1940s and 50s Robeson became a prime target of the Red Scare and from then was monitored by secret services.
Date: 19 September – 24 October 2010
Venue: Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung,
M.1 Hohenlockstedt,
Breite Straße 18,
2551 Hohenlockstedt
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