Ro Robertson’s Stone (Butch) (2021) is part of a body of works exploring the terrain of the queer body in the landscape and was created by plaster casting directly in crevices in natural rock formations at Godrevy Point (St Ives Bay, Cornwall). This “sculptural void” makes physical a negative space created by the power of the sea. Stone (Butch) considers a “raincoat layer” of the body exposed to external forces inspired by lesbian and trans activist Les Feinburg’s novel Stone Butch Blues in which the oppression of lesbian, trans and butch and femme identity is laid bare.
Stone (Butch) is the first major open-air sculpture by an artist already recognised an important voice of their generation. First shown in an urban context as part of Sculpture in the City in London, the work now resonates with the natural landscape environment at YSP and begins a dialogue with new audiences. Robertson says: “To create a public sculpture as a Queer and non-binary artist and to position it in public space is to open up the conversation of who is represented via sculpture. Public sculpture has traditionally only represented a narrow demographic and a binary understanding of gender and I hope to be part of a new shift away from this.”
More information available at ysp.org.uk/openair/ro-robertson-stone-butch
More on Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s Summer of Love: ysp.org.uk/exhibitions/the-summer-of-love
Image:
Ro Robertson, Stone (Butch), 2021. Image courtesy of the artist, Sculpture in the City and Maximillian William, London. Photography Jack Hems
