Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1938 Härnösand, Sweden

Died: 2005 Bristol, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1957

Other name/s: Monica Sjoo

Biography

Artist, activist, writer, scholar, eco-feminist and eco-witch, Monica Sjöö was born in Härnösand, Sweden on 31 December 1938. Her parents, Gustaf Arvid Sjöö (1902–1949) and Anna Harriet Rosander-Sjöö (1912–1965) were both painters. From early on, Sjöö was an anarcho-feminist and felt deeply connected to the goddess Gaia. Leaving school and running away from home at 16 – when her mother remarried to a Russian aristocrat - Sjöö travelled across Europe, taking various odd jobs, including modelling in Parisian and Roman art schools. She eventually moved from Paris to Bristol, England in 1957 (she also maintained a studio in St. Ives, Cornwall), with her first husband, jeweller, Steven Trickey, father of her two sons. In 1968, she married pianist Andy Jubb. (Sjöö considered heterosexuality a patriarchal construct and had relationships with both genders.) From 1962, Sjöö attended art classes at the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) in Bristol. In the early 1970s she had her third son after a solo trip to Sweden. In the 1970s, after divorcing Jubb, she partnered with Keith Motherson (Paton), co-founder of the Alternative Socialist movement and fellow Peace News writer. Tragically, two of Sjöö's three sons died prematurely, one in a car crash and another from sickness. Overcoming initial creative stagnation, Sjöö channelled her grief into the artwork, My Sons in the Spirit World (1989).

Sjöö’s artistic practice merged her art and activism, centring on themes including: a deep ecological connection with nature; spirituality linked to Gaia; reverence for goddesses; ancient goddesses; sacred sites; women's rights across ethnicity, class, and sexuality; and birth and the female body. She primarily worked with large-scale oil paintings, posters, and pamphlets, but also made drawings and utilised mixed media. Her work features strong graphic lines and an aesthetic rawness, employing an earthy palette, encompassing both warmer and cooler colours. Her works often combine image and text to deliver a powerful feminist and ecological message. In 1971, Sjöö’s now iconic painting God Giving Birth (1968) was exhibited at the St Ives arts council festival, but removed from exhibition because it upset Christian groups. The artist was reported to the authorities for blasphemy, but no legal action was taken against her. This impactful, boundary-pushing piece - towering at over two metres high and illustrating a woman of colour birthing in the midst of the universe - has since gained acclaim as a feminist art symbol. The painting reflects Sjöö's spiritual engagement, influenced by the divine sensations she felt while giving birth to her second child, embodying her view of the Great Mother as the cosmic life giver.

Sjöö wrote several landmark feminist texts, including the radical manifesto Towards a Revolutionary Feminist Art (1971), which stirred considerable discussion in feminist circles, and she participated in feminist exhibitions and actions. In addition to her anti-Vietnam War activism, she and fellow members of the End Patriarchy Now group disrupted a service at Bristol Cathedral, protesting the Church of England's failure to acknowledge women's spirituality. The dean of the cathedral joined in their actions. Sjöö also authored numerous texts on the theme of women, spirituality and ecology. Collaborating with American poet and feminist, Barbara Mor, she co-authored The Great Cosmic Mother(1987), a seminal book exploring women’s historical and pioneering role in shaping early religious and cultural beliefs, which has subsequently been influential in women’s studies and religion studies. Sjöö’s interdisciplinary approach also significantly impacted the Goddess movement. As a founding member of the Bristol Women's Liberation group, she showcased her work in the first Women's Liberation Art Group exhibition in London (1971). Her efforts also led to the formation of the Bristol Women's Art Group and she was also connected to the city’s spiritual women’s group Amu Mawu.

At the end of her life, despite being under urgent cancer treatment at Bristol Royal Infirmary, Sjöö attended her 2004 retrospective at Hotbath Gallery, Bath. While the art media mostly overlooked the event, it attracted numerous visitors and the catalogues sold out. Monica Sjöö died in Bristol, England on 8 August 2005. The Monica Sjöö Curatorial Collective was established after her death. This collective of art historians, curators, scholars, and supporters are united in their appreciation of Sjöö's art and activism, and seek rightful acknowledgment for her work, addressing the prolonged oversight common to numerous female artists. Posthumous exhibitions include: Monica Sjöö: The Time is NOW and it is Overdue!, Beaconsfield Gallery, London (2022) and Monica Sjöö: The Great Cosmic Mother, Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2023). in 2023-24 her worked featured in Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970 - 1990 at Tate Britain. In UK public collections, Sjöö's work is represented in the Feminist Archive South and the Women's Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge, while selected papers are held at the University of Bristol.