ALISON MCGOVERN MP: Thank you, thank you.
Good evening, everybody.
Welcome.
Now, this is a very special occasion for me and my colleagues
on the Works of Art Committee, because we have before us tonight
a portrait bust
of the famous atheist and free thinker, Charles Bradlaugh.
Through his determination and persistence,
he secured the passage of the new Oaths Act in 1888.
For the first time, this meant that members of any religious belief
or no religious belief could take their seats in Parliament.
So, I hope you're all now excited to see it.
(LAUGHTER)
I've seen it already, it's great.
Let me pass over to Terry Sanderson and Keith Porteous-Wood
of the National Secular Society,
and ask them to do the honours, unveil the bust and say a few words.
You stand on the right-hand of...
(LAUGHTER)
OK, one, two, three, go.
(APPLAUSE)
Our committee's job is to tell the story of Parliament through time,
and to create a historical record for future generations so that,
when they look back through history,
they can understand a little more about some of the important events
in how our democracy has been formed.
And that's crucial because, in 200 years' time,
it will be really important for people then to understand the past
and how they've got to the point where they are.
TERRY SANDERSON: I hope that the installation of this fantastic new image
will rekindle interest in what he did and who he was.
What I want this portrait bust to do is to perhaps inspire people
to look more closely into Charles Bradlaugh's life.
I think that Charles Bradlaugh's main achievement,
beyond the Oaths Act,
was to actually open Parliament up to a wider diversity of people.
ALISON MCGOVERN MP: So, Charles Bradlaugh was recognised as a significant gap
in the collection when it was reviewed in the 1950s.
Of course, you know, the committee can only acquire works
for the collection to tell that important story
partly through our own limited resources
but also from generous donations
such as that from the National Secular Society,
so we're all very pleased they were going to help us tell this story
of a moment in time
when a very important change happened in Parliament.
KEITH PORTEOUS-WOOD: The first time I saw the final version of the bust,
it was very emotive.
It took away my breath,
and I felt almost as if I wanted to stretch out my hand
and greet my hero.
It was just absolutely...
Almost did it, and I think that's such a tribute to Suzie
and what she has done.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ALISON MCGOVERN MP: Ladies and gentlemen,
please don't stop your applause as I welcome to the stage Suzie Zamit.
SUZIE ZAMIT: Can I just say thank you, Keith.
Your compliments are fantastic.
It's just been a complete pleasure. I love my job.
It's a dream, being given a character
and to try and bring them to life, it's just...
It's a journey of discovery, and you're bit like a detective.
You're trying to piece all the bits together.
I just really hope that you can feel there's something
kind of going on in there.
ALISON MCGOVERN MP: So, the bust itself is going to be in Lower Waiting Hall,
which is just off Central Lobby, and it's the place that
members of the public and Members of Parliament and everybody
who comes to Parliament
walks through on their way up to Committee Corridor.
SUZIE ZAMIT: With the help of the Curator's Office and Simon Smith,
the stone carver,
we looked at the location and it's quite busy, architecturally,
the background, so we decided we would have a sort of modern
limestone plinth, and basically my treatment of the clay
and the modelling is, you know, it's not the shiny, perfect,
Victorian bust sitting on a classical pedestal.
I have got this kind of separation here,
which is slightly like a pedestal, to bring it away from the plinth.
But I've tried to focus more on the face
and then the modelling kind of becomes more roughly hewn
and slightly kind of blurred out towards the edges,
which is a very un-Victorian approach.
KEITH PORTEOUS-WOOD: These were the inspirational words which we gave to Suzie.
'Courage', 'resilience', 'defiance', 'humanity', 'far-sighted',
'visionary', 'ingenious', 'charismatic',
'strategic', 'organiser' and 'daring'.
And she's got every one of those into the portrait today.
ALISON MCGOVERN MP: Can I just say I hope you all enjoy looking at it.
Suzie Zamit, once again.
(APPLAUSE)