Finally made it to Newington Green to see the Wollstonecraft statue and I have some thoughts. What struck me most, quite aside from the content, was the poor quality of the finish. I didn’t understand the silver in reproduction, but even less in actuality...

the metal looks clumpy and improperly realised, and the detailing is lacklustre: more like a quick maquette scaled up than a finished work. And the whole thing just fits so awkwardly in the square.

There are moments in the body of the monument where the suggestion of organic forms thrusting upwards is intriguing, with torsos, arms and watery jets working together to push this ‘every woman’ upward...

But my overriding feeling was one of disappointment at such a missed opportunity, and that the nude female form was every bit as inappropriate as I had expected, not to mention just plain odd. For the nude motif to have worked, it needed a much more thoughtful realisation...

With only a slight tweak, the thing could have come to resemble zombie Wollstonecraft’s nobbly middle finger extended upwards, her nail decorated with a mini barbie dangler sprayed silver like some post-ironic 6th form project (all of which might have actually been better!)...