New artwork unveiled to honour 200 years of legal service
News
To mark its 200 years of supporting solicitors, the Law Society of England and Wales commissioned celebrated British artist and Turner Prize winner, Helen Cammock, to create a landmark artwork.
‘A People’s Practice’ is a suite of three art works* that will live at Chancery Lane, the Law Society building**. Each piece invites reflection on the weight of the oath solicitors take, the emotional terrain they navigate and the ethical balance they must strive to uphold.
“This year marks our bicentenary. Two hundred years of solicitors shaping society, upholding justice and standing up for the rule of law,” said Mark Evans, Law Society president.
“We wanted to mark this milestone not just by looking back, but by creating something that speaks to who we are today and who we are becoming. So, we commissioned an artwork that now lives in the heart of our building, something that hopefully speaks to the soul of our profession.
“We chose artist Helen Cammock, whose work champions inclusivity and representation and focuses on often overlooked and marginalised voices. This artwork reminds us that law is not just about rules, it is, above all, about people. It is about care, respect and the courage to stand up for what is right, even when the system is imperfect.”
Helen Cammock said: “Conversations about injustice and inequity and the structures that maintain them are core to the work I make. I’m interested in systems of power and how they moderate both collective and individual experience. For this Law Society commission, the work focuses on both a call to action and an acknowledgement of the weight carried by solicitors working to ensure equality before the law.
“I can trace my passion for justice back to my childhood. Both my parents raised us to be in touch with injustice in the world and the importance of bearing witness and striving to challenge it. They were teachers and my father also became a magistrate. He wanted to be a part of a system where he hoped to make a difference and saw that structurally it matters who is present at all levels of the process. It matters who is ‘sitting in the chair’, who is presenting to court, who is supporting people through a complicated and intimidating system. A system that is inherently an extension of the structural inequality of the society that birthed it. So, interpretation, ethics, care and respect are all key.
“In this commission, I also want to acknowledge the hardships solicitors face every day in their work, some of which I witnessed firsthand whilst working in the social care system earlier in my life.”
Notes to editors
- *High-resolution photographs of the artwork can be sent upon request.
- **The unveiling will be a two-stage process with the works in the main entrance being officially opened on Tuesday 18th November, alongside a full-scale maquette of the fabric banner ‘A Balanced Scale’ outside the library. The final piece is set to be officially installed in the new year.
- The artist is available for interviews.
About Helen Cammock
Helen Cammock lives and works in North Wales and London.
Her interdisciplinary practice spans film, photography, print, text, song and performance, and engages with historical and contemporary narratives around Blackness, womanhood, oppression and resistance, wealth and power, poverty and vulnerability.
Moving fluidly across time and geography, her works often layer multiple voices and perspectives to explore the cyclical nature of history through poetic, visual and aural assemblage.
She was awarded the Max Mara Art Prize for Women in 2017 and was a joint recipient of the Turner Prize in 2019.
She is represented by Kate MacGarry, London.
About the Law Society
The Law Society is celebrating 200 years of supporting solicitors in England and Wales.
It is the independent professional body that works globally to support and represent solicitors, promoting the highest professional standards, the public interest and the rule of law.
Press office contact: Peggy Papakosta | 020 8049 3817