Wednesday 12 July 2017
AN ART installation celebrating the woman who inspired Communist thinker Friedrich Engels has been created by University of Salford students as part of the Manchester International Festival.
The
installation dedicated to Mary Burns – Engels’ common-law wife who introduced
him to the poverty of 19th Century Salford and Manchester – is being
held at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House in south Manchester on Wednesday July 12
Burns, who came
from an Irish family and was the daughter of a cotton mill worker, is often
credited with enabling Engels to document the slum conditions of the period in The
History Of The Working Class In England which he co-authored with his
friend Karl Marx, but very little is known about her and no photographs have
survived.
Now, a group of
students and recent graduates from the University who met during Manchester
International Festival’s Creative50 project – which mentors creative
individuals to develop their talents – have decided to mark her legacy.
The event
features a five foot abstract sculpture of Burns alongside a dress created by
Visual Arts graduate Natalie Linney made out of old clothing and salvaged
metal.
There will also
be an immersive experience including films representing Mary’s life and images
of Manchester’s Irish community created by Jamie Starboisky, graduating this
summer from the Broadcast Journalism programme, along with a digital soundscape
created by PhD researcher Manoli Moriaty.
Finally, the
event features poetry by Ella Eneme Otomewo, graduating with English Literature
and Drama this summer and current International Events student Kofi Gyamfi.
Jamie
Starboisky said: “It’s staggering to think that without a Manchester-born Irish
woman, Communism might not have happened. She was a very practical woman, who
introduced him to things he wouldn’t have seen otherwise, and even took him to
Ireland to see the effects of the potato famine.
“They were like
John Lennon and Yoko Ono – two complete opposites who came together and
achieved great things because they were so creative.
“We’ve called
the event ‘behind ev’ry great man, there had to be a great woman’ because she
seems to epitomise that phrase. Burns was behind Engels but for most of
history she’s been hidden behind his legacy as well, without getting the
recognition she really deserved. We’re hoping that we can do something to
change that.”
The free event
takes place at Elizabeth Gaskell House, 83 Plymouth Grove, from 11am-8.30pm on
Wednesday July 12.