Don't you just love the way someone has left flowers on the statues of Dame Enid Lyons and Dame Dorothy Tangney in the Parliamentary Triangle?
This sweet photograph was taken by Cormac Farrell, the head beekeeper at Parliament House, who tweeted the image this week on a walk past the statue, down near Old Parliament House.
"Not sure if the artist realised that these sculptures of our first female MPs would always have flowers in their hands, but I hope so. It is lovely and always makes me smile when I see them," he wrote.
It is a thrill, too, for the artist Lis Johnson to see her work so embraced by the public.
"It feels like a light-hearted fun gesture and respectful at the same time," she said, when shown the photograph.
Passersby also love to hug the statues of Enid and Dorothy. Or they try to hold their hand. And, of course, take a selfie with them.
They have been a hit ever since they were unveiled in March, honouring the two dames for being the first women elected to federal parliament.
Ms Johnson literally had the women portrayed as down-to-earth, displayed on the ground, not on a plinth or behind a glass cabinet.
"Selfie culture, and our disinclination to place people literally out of reach on pedestals anymore, means the figures are physically and symbolically more accessible to the passer-by," she said.
"I think it's great with the ladies because we see them as both relatable and inspiring, real women - celebrated for their work and achievements, not for their looks or celebrity.
"The fact that the sculptures are located close to several parliamentary rose gardens is a factor - not a coincidence that the flowers are always roses!"
And it all bodes well for Johnson's next statue in Canberra - that of late ACT senator and minister in the Hawke government, Susan Ryan.
In August 2022, the ACT government announced that Ms Ryan, who died in 2020 aged 77, would be the subject of the Woman of Significance Public Art Commission with the artwork to be created by a woman or non-binary artist.
The ACT government has committed $200,000 to the project.
Ms Johnson, from Victoria, was announced last month as the artist who would bring the project to life.
"I was there [in Canberra] last week with the partner and daughter of my next subject, Susan Ryan, and we discussed how it is likely that Susan will receive the same attention and love," she said.
It's not the first time Canberrans have shown their love for a sculpture.
The large bronze at the Hughes shops, of a woman holding a bird, was wrapped in a scarf and given slippers in the winter of 2019. In the bushfire smoke of 2019-20, she was protected with a mask.
In 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, some wag also put a mask on the sculpture of Sir Robert Menzies next to Lake Burley Griffin. And people have also taken photos of the Menzie sculpture holding their dogs' leads in its hand.
Ms Johnson says she sees people embracing and interacting with statues created by other artists and by herself.
"I remember when Shane Warne passed, the image most used was not of him, but of his statue at the MCG, flooded with floral tributes and other items. The sculpture becomes like a tomb or gravesite; it goes from a commemoration to a memorial," she said.
"Sometimes people make visual jokes - someone once climbed up and placed a ladies' stiletto in Norm Smith's hand. And there are other amusing examples that I won't mention, not wanting to encourage copycats!
"My George Treloar sculpture on Sturt Street in Ballarat is frequently swamped in flowers, placed there by descendants of the Greek refugees he rescued.
"And the sculptures I've done for schools are incorporated into the schools' cultural life, adorned differently according to the religious traditions and rituals at different times of the year."
They may be bronze, but they have a heart.
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