Virginia Woolf Statue to be Unveiled

Aurora Metro Arts and Media

The new statue of Virginia Woolf

The first full-size bronze statue of Virginia Woolf in England is set to be unveiled - by Virginia’s great niece Emma Woolf with her 2 year old son Ludovic Cecil Woolf (Ludo) - on the upper terraces at Richmond Riverside following a five-year fundraising campaign.

Virginia Woolf lived and worked in Richmond with her husband Leonard from 1914 to 1924. Locally-based Aurora Metro Arts and Media Charity has been campaigning for the funds to create a memorial for the writer in a city where there are more monuments depicting animals than there are in honour of named women.

The project’s supporters include Margaret Atwood, Caitlin Moran, Jodi Picoult, Caroline Criado Perez, Mark Haddon, Phillip Pullman and Neil Gaiman.

statue of virginia woolf
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Aurora Metro Arts and Media

The new statue of Virginia Woolf

the statue's sculptor Laury Dizengremel
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Aurora Metro Arts and Media

The statue's sculptor, Laury Dizengremel

Designed by award-winning sculptor Laury Dizengremel, the statue depicts Woolf relaxing on a bench where people can sit next to her while enjoying the Richmond riverside. Among Dizengremel’s other recent public artwork commissions is the life-size bronze sculpture of 18th century landscape designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown near Hammersmith Bridge, and a bust of Mary Church Terrell for the National Association of University Women in the USA.

Cheryl Robson, team leader at Aurora Metro Arts and Media which is based in new local bookshop Books on the Rise, said: “We are delighted to have reached our goal after five years of fundraising. Finally, this world-famous writer and champion of women’s rights is being honoured with a full-size bronze statue, and we are thrilled to be introducing this to the town where she lived a hundred years ago.”

The unveiling will take place at 2.30pm on November 16, at Richmond Riverside, TW9 1EH. Also attending will be Sophie Partridge, the great-great niece of Virginia Woolf and great grand-daughter of Virginia’s sister Vanessa Bell.

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