NT stumbles from conceptual art to gender war
The crossing out of J.K. Rowling’s name has been unpicked by an intrepid visitor, much to the consternation of the staff at Hardwick Hall.
An attempt to enliven the 16th-century interior of Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire with some feminist conceptual art has led to a spat between opponents and supporters of J.K. Rowling conducted via embroidery. Gender Blog reports:
The National Trust has declared it is “deeply disappointed” by the unauthorised removal of some pink and blue stitching over JK Rowling’s name on a piece of art it commissioned. Here’s the full story:
On Monday 24 May, the Derbyshire and Staffordshire chapter of WRN – the Women’s Rights Network – put out a tweet thread about a piece of “collaborative” art work called A Virtuous Woman, which is currently on display at Hardwick Hall, a National Trust property in Derbyshire.
A Virtuous Woman was commissioned in collaboration with the University of Leeds. It was conceived and overseen by the artist Layla Khoo, who, according to the National Trust ‘has drawn inspiration from the 16th century Noblewomen Embroideries at Hardwick Hall’. The artwork invited “visitors to express their choices through participation”.
The idea seems to be that people were encouraged to stitch inspiring words and the names of women they would like to celebrate into some fabric.
A Virtuous Woman is a work of ‘collaborative art’ inspired by a sixteenth-century embroidery at Hardwick Hall.
And just when we thought the saga could hardly get any more weird, this update on 3 June:
The National Trust has covered over a piece of art, called A Virtuous Woman, previously on display at Hardwick Hall, an Elizabethan stately home in Derbyshire.
Visitors are now confronted by a sign which says ‘Unfortunately, the artwork has been tampered with by a member of the public. Please bear with us while we assess the piece and decide on the best course of action.’
As the conflict turned hot, National Trust staff covered up the artwork.
The Women’s Rights Network of Derbyshire and Staffordshire writes rather excitedly on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter,
A Virtuous Woman, a participatory textile artwork piece inspired by Bess of Hardwick's Ancient Noblewomen embroideries, launched in 2024 by creator Layla Khoo to "represent brilliant women" that "align our values with today" is on display at Hardwick Hall during 2025. The inspirational piece consists of recycled fabric, the creator says it aims to "represent & reflect the wide-ranging views, beliefs & life experiences of Hardwick's visitors" Contributors were invited to nominate women's names & virtues to be embroidered onto the piece. Words expressing a woman's virtue or value from today's time were embroidered on panels, such as: positivity, resilience, sisterhood, valour, temperance, respect, justice, empathy. Names of inspirational women were added including: Queens Elizabeth I & II, Ruth Walker, Yoko Ono, Amy Winehouse, Kamala Harris, Marie Curie, Anne Boleyn, Margaret Thatcher, GretaThunberg, Taylor Swift, Beatrix Potter, Enid Blyton, and JK Rowling Indeed. JK Rowling's name was embroidered over with neat stitching to cross out her name! Can you imagine the malevolence, of the perpetrator who did the deed, then the creator who didn't unpick it, & ultimately the National Trust that allowed this to stand a year on?
Meanwhile, Layla Khoo told the Centre for Critical Studies in Museums, Galleries and Heritage at the University of Leeds,
‘The central component to my practice-based PhD with the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies is a new participatory artwork A Virtuous Woman at National Trust Hardwick Hall, which seeks to examine these themes through an iterative approach to participation, co creation and evaluation.’