Presentation of Prissy, metal sculpture by artist and blacksmith Jake Bowers

This week on campus, we are excited to celebrate the arrival of ‘Priscilla, the Queen of the South’, a sculpture of a Gypsy horse by artist Jake Bowers!

This exciting moment is the culmination of Professor of English Language & Linguistics (English) Roberta Piazza's year-long research and engagement with Roma and Traveller communities. Part of the National Trust project, ‘Changing Chalk Cultural Heritage’, which aims to restore lost habitats, bring histories to life, and provide new experiences in the outdoors, the installation will be temporarily hosted outside the Jubilee Building, reflecting the lived history of our immediate landscape. This sculpture will represent the University’s commitment to race equality and will feature as a point of reference for campus visits delivered by the University’s Widening Participation Team. 

For many hundreds of years, Gypsies and Travellers have lived, worked and travelled in the South Downs, contributing their bit to one of the most beautiful of British landscapes. Yet, look closely and evidence for that past is almost impossible to see. So, throughout the Spring and Summer of 2023, artist blacksmith Jake Bowers and scores of community members set to work to make a permanent and powerful reminder of that presence as part of the National Trust’s Changing Chalk Project.

Jake Bowers tells the story of Prissy: “The measurements for the sculpture came from a real-life model - Winnie the Gypsy Cob, the much-loved horse owned by my sister Priscilla Bowers. By taking this lovely mare’s vital statistics we had a life-sized model that could be made steel [...] After the framework and legs were welded firmly on, we decided it was time to take Priscilla, Queen of the South, as she had become known, on a nationwide tour so that members of our community, the public and public sector workers could each forge part of her massive mane, feathery feet and tail.”

The sculpture was taken on a 1000-mile tour throughout Britain from the National Trust's property at Devil’s Dyke in the South Downs, via Appleby Fair in Cumbria and the Tilford Rural Life Centre in Surrey. It is the first public sculpture to be unveiled as part of Project Atchin Tan, a community initiative seeking to include the voices of Gypsies and Travellers on issues of sustainability and global warming.

Prissy has joined us to mark the Deemed Dirty Symposium organised by Roberta Piazza, taking place this Friday 23 February in the Sussex Digital Humanities Lab, which will explore representations of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. The symposium is fully booked, but you can join attendees for the official welcome ceremony for Prissy on Friday at 4pm outside the Jubilee Building - all are welcome!

On the day of the welcome ceremony, BBC News shared a story about Prissy's arrival, detailing how the sculpture has been installed to inspire students from "Gypsy, Roma and Traveller backgrounds" to go into further education.

After her stay with us, Prissy the Gypsy cob will soon find a permanent home in the South Downs. Make sure to spot her whilst she is here!

The Deemed Dirty Symposium has been supported by the School of Media, Arts and Humanities and is funded by the British Academy for the project ‘Dirt or cleanliness? The tension between Travellers and Gypsies and settled society (SG2122\210901)’