Women in geo-science project seeks crowdfunding

Raising Horizons, a collaboration between photographer Leonora Saunders, archaeological campaigners Trowelblazers and Prospect, aims to create a new and valuable resource that showcases the role of women in geo-science past and present.

The project has launched a crowdfunding webpage to help raise the money needed to successfully display the exhibition at venues around the UK and online, so that the project can reach the widest possible audience.

Raising Horizons consists of two parts:

• 14 contemporary women working in archaeology, geology and palaeontology photographed as their historic counterpart.
• Accompanying personal interviews that will form the basis of a new oral history archive.

The idea is to to preserve the career experiences of today’s pioneers and ensure they aren’t forgotten, like so many of the women who came before them.

“Working in partnership for the last 12 months, we’ve developed a photographic exhibition that will bring two centuries of hidden trowel-blazing history to life,” explained Leonora. “With your help it’s ready to become a reality.”

Leonora’s work is focused on exploring issues surrounding diversity and wider cultural ideas on gender and ability. Specializing in portraiture, Leonora’s work has featured in The Guardian, The Sunday Times, and The Evening Standard as well as The Royal Photographic Society Magazine.

She has previously worked with Prospect on Prospect Pioneers, a calendar with profiles of women in male-dominated science and engineering roles. It was highly recommended by the TUC in 2014.

Prospect campaigns officer Graham Stewart added: “The Raising Horizons project is a timely one given the announcement that A-level archaeology is to be dropped from the school curriculum. We know that there is already a shortage of archaeologists needed to work on big construction projects for example. It makes the task of getting more women involved in archaeology, geology and palaeontology even more pressing.”

Trowelblazers are four early career researchers whose mission is resetting imaginations by sharing the stories of pioneering women in the geo-sciences, past and present. Their website hosts more than 120 biographies.