It was a warm July evening in Sheffield. Dusk was slowly falling in the Ponderosa, one of many unlit parks in Sheffield. At 9.30 yellow light illuminated one of the edges of the park. Members of Our Bodies Our Streets (OBOS), a Sheffield-wide organisation campaigning for safer spaces free from public sexual harassment, gathered to unveil their temporary light installation.
Soon, moving words of a poem about street harassment read out by Katie Sea filled the park. People around the monument gathered in small groups to talk and celebrate. It was the first time that the new light installation started an important conversation.
Megan James, a community network officer for OBOS and a 3rd year history and politics student at the University of Sheffield, explained the idea behind the monument.
She said:
“Our monument was in the area which is poorly lit. We wanted to have a sculpture there to show that even without the lights, it is our space too.
“We wanted to create something that would be a talking point. Something that people would pass by and it would start a conversation about street harassment. It was supposed to be a reminder of the issues that women and marginalised genders in Sheffield face in their daily lives.”
The wooden monument was lit up and had a map with points in Sheffield where women were sexually harassed. It also featured poetry related to the issue. Captions included “No, not all men but all women” and “we are told to carry our keys”. The sculpture was made from scratch by previous OBOS committee members Kai, Emma and Alison.
Alison said:
“The sculpture was laser cut – we could use uni facilities to save money. We did painting and varnishing in our uni house gardens. Constructing it on site was great as people would come up to us and ask questions – this was a great opportunity to tell them about the campaign.”
(Photo taken from @ourbodiesourstreets on Instagram)
The installation was supposed to stay in the Ponderosa until September. However on 23 August, OBOS members woke up to heart-breaking news. A local person walked past the monument, saw remains of burnt down installation and reported it to the organisation.
Megan said:
“It was absolutely horrific. I was very disappointed for the people who spent so long making the monument and also since it is not there anymore it will not have the effect that it would have if it was in the park for longer.”
Alison added:
“When it was burnt down, having only been up for 4 weeks, it was crushing when so much work had gone into it”.
However, OBOS did not allow the incident to silence them. In the place where the installation used to stand, they put up signs saying: “this won’t stop us” and “this is not the end”. Next to the notes, they printed out a QR code which people can scan in order to share their thoughts about the sculpture.
(Photo taken by Wiktoria Wrzyszcz)
Megan said:
“Our Instagram DMs are absolutely full of people showing solidarity, offering their support or ideas for future sculptures. The conversations that we had with people on our social media after the monument was destroyed showed the huge impact the installation had.”
Alison added:
“It shows how pertinent the issue is and that there are brilliant people in Sheffield supporting social change – the sculpture was installed to spark this conversation and this can continue in the community despite its physical destruction.”
Even though the burning down of the monument damaged the hard work put into it, OBOS members do not want to think about it too much. They prefer to remember how beautiful it was when it was unveiled and use the current momentum to talk about issues concerning women and marginalised genders.
Megan said:
“The destruction of our beautiful sculpture got discussions starting up again about street harassment in Sheffield and this is one good thing to come from it. It is really important to use this moment to bring further change in the city.”
An investigation into the incident has been launched to find those responsible. OBOS is encouraging anyone who knows anything about the incident to come forward.