Modern Women: Threads of Empowerment

18 - 29 June 2025

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2025, Woollahra Council partnered with artists Mel Booth and Bridget Stehli, alongside renowned Australian fashion designer, and event sponsor Lee Mathews, to host a community appliqué workshop at the Vaucluse Bowling Club and Community Facility. The workshop brought together 50 community members to create a collaborative textile mural titled Apple of Perseverance.

Participants explored themes of strength, knowledge-sharing, and female empowerment. The mural was inspired by Mary Cassatt’s historic three-panel work Modern Woman (1893), which challenged traditional depictions of women as passive or compliant. Drawing on this legacy, Apple of Perseverance celebrates the resilience and ingenuity of contemporary women, while honouring the intergenerational transfer of knowledge and care that has shaped women’s experiences across time.

Completed by artist Mel Booth, the work is part of a silent auction and on public display for the exhibition Modern Women: Threads of Empowerment. Auction proceeds go to the Women’s Housing Company - an organisation supported by Woollahra Council that is dedicated to supporting single women and women with children experiencing housing insecurity across New South Wales.

The exhibition also features individual works by Mel Booth and Bridget Stehli, whose practices explore the evolving perception of women and centre the female gaze. 

Support the Cause

Attend the auction on Thursday 19 June 2025 and bid on Apple of Perseverance. Event information here, and auction here.

Make a tax-deductible donation to the Women’s Housing Company online.

Your support helps an organisation that, for 40 years, has continued to work hard to ensure that every woman has a place to call home.

Woollahra Council and the Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf extend heartfelt thanks to the participating women, Lee Mathews, and the Women’s Housing Company for their generosity, creativity, and commitment to empowering women in our community through art and action.