On the 20th of February I had the pleasure of giving a talk to the Sheffield based Seven Hills Women’s Institute. They had invited me to give my ‘The Medium, The Magician and the Con Artist, Women who made magic’
It’s my favourite talk to give and centres on the amazing ladies who helped shape modern stage magic. Many of these women do not get the recognition they deserve.
During the talk we looked at how three girls started a worldwide movement, one lady used her ‘spirit voices’ to give a platform to her ideas for making society better, a 16 year old girl challenged men to a test of strength and a female performer used the modern technology of the day to shape a new form of magic performance. Along the way we saw why a lady was convicted of being a witch in the 20th century, how to beat Houdini at his own game and how a female artist changed forever how we look at the Tarot.
Included in the talk were several demonstrations, including recreating some of the feats of the people mentioned in the talk and some lovely magic to illustrate the ideas.
It was a very busy night with several guests from other WI’s and the feedback has been lovely. I was very well looked after by the committee and members, their hospitality was excellent, I even got to pull out the raffle tickets at the end of the night (I am available for turning on Christmas lights and supermarket openings!).
‘Cracking talk from magician Ashton Carter last night! We learnt about how women have shaped the history of magic,
and were treated to some mind bending tricks too!’
SHWI Facebook Group
‘Probably one of the best talks I have ever been to,
well researched, well presented, well feminist’
SHWI Facebook Group, member post
I always enjoy sharing my research with groups and am particularly keen to raise the profile of the importance of women in magic, as we need more ladies performing magic and many of the historically important ladies have been ‘gently forgotten’ when they need to be celebrated. I strongly believe the phrase ‘If you cannot see it, you cannot be it’.
If you would like me to come and talk at your society, Women’s Institute or friends group please get in touch through my contact page. I would love to share this talk and include a magic workshop for schools, Scouting, Brownies and Girl Guiding groups and I’m always happy to talk about these opportunities. I'm based in South Yorkshire and happy to travel to meet your groups.
Comments