Sculpture Information

The image is based upon the story of the woman who anointed Jesus feet. She wept and cleaned his dusty feet with her tears and dried them with her hair (Luke 7:36-50). Unfettered hair was seen as shocking in those days in a similar way to how nudity is viewed today. Therefore, she is naked. She is described in the book of Luke as a ‘sinful woman’ but despite this, Jesus said what she had done for him would be remembered for all time.  He accepts her as an equal thus giving her status.

Whilst carving this sculpture, the Rotherham Sex trials were in the news. It was described, at the time as “the biggest child protection scandal in UK history”. Young girls were taken advantage of by gangs of men. The crime of selling young women into sexual slavery has become one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the global economy. Sex trafficking is defined as transportation of persons by means of coercion, deception and/or force into exploitative and slavery-like conditions. Today it is commonly associated with organised crime.