Half Loaf Necklace: bread and revolutions

What?s this? a mannequin with a loaf of bread around her neck?

Well, I was in Dundee today for a symposium at DCA (Dundee Contemporary Arts) and I took the chance to have a look at Ruth Ewans exhibition.

This piece entitled Half Loaf Necklace references the 1912 strike started in Dundee jute mills by young women. One of the strike leaders, Mary Brooksbank, wore a loaf around her neck.

Bread has a history as a metaphor for basic living from the misattributed Maria Antoinette phrase ( let them eat cake) to the people of Syria this year waving bread during their demonstrations.