Monica Sjöö (1938-2005)
Monica was a Swedish-born artist, writer and feminist who became one of the visionaries of the Goddess movement. She lived in Bristol (with several breaks) from about 1960, having arrived here with her first husband Stevan Trickey, a jeweller whom she had met in Paris. She had male and female lovers, travelled widely and sustained a network of long-lasting friendships which crossed the globe. She lived at various times in Sweden, the South of France and West Wales, but returned to Bristol.
In 1968 she finished her best-known painting, God Giving Birth, which was at various times banned or removed from exhibitions. She was a founder member of Bristol Women’s Liberation (1969) and of Amu Mawu, a group which celebrated women’s spirituality. Monica’s guidance was important in ensuring the inclusion of LGBT people in neo-Pagan religious thinking. In 1993 she was the central figure in an interruption of Sunday service at Bristol Cathedral, in protest at the suppression of women’s role and rites by a patriarchal church.
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Sources:
Monica Sjöö memorial website
Obituary, Guardian, September 23, 2005
Wikipedia: Monica Sjöö
Andrew Foyle
Last edited: 6/11/2011
4 Responses to “Sjöö, Monica”
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Where did you get the info that Monica lived in New York? She certainly visited that City, and many others around the world, but I don’t remember her ever saying she lived there at any point in her life. She certainly didn’t while I knew her at any rate ……..
Hi Dale. I got this from an autobiographical account on Monica’s website (www.monicasjoo.org) It says that she went to NY in the Summer of 1968 where she had a job in upstate New York as a counsellor in a (youth?) camp. But I’m not sure how long that was for, so I’ll reword the reference. – Andy
Monica was only there for 6 weeks. She just spent a summer at the camp and certainly never lived there
I lived with her and knew her very well like a best friend and older woman..like an aunt…She never lived in NYC…Connect as I am writing my own stories of that time…Bristol…London…Lancaster….