This artist hand-stitched flags to share seafaring women's remarkable stories

Sailing on a tall ship off the coast of New York City, artist Inbal Newman was struck with an idea she wouldn't be able to shake for years to come.

It was 2014, and she was a volunteer deckhand on the schooner Pioneer when she heard the captain describe the tradition of sailors hoisting personal flags that reflect their own life stories.

Unlike provincial or country ensigns, these flags were deeply personal identifiers, often lovingly hand-stitched by seafarers' wives.  

Newman, who is originally from Wisconsin and now lives in Mahone Bay, N.S., was moved by the idea. She also realized that while she's sailed alongside many inspiring female seafarers, their stories were rarely recognized in this way.

So years later, when she found herself as the artist in residence at the Lunenburg School of the Arts, she set out to make her own flags honouring the experiences of seafaring women, past and present.

"A flag is a great visual medium to give them that recognition that's really powerful," Newman said. 

The finished product is a series of 10 flags, each measuring three by four feet, created using traditional methods like palm-and-needle stitching, hand dyeing and cyanotype.

Cyanotype is an alternative to photography, developed in the mid-1800s, that creates a cyan blue print when certain chemicals are exposed to light. 

Newman researched seafarers who lived hundreds of years ago, such as Mary Anne Talbot, who disguised herself as a man and went by John Taylor when she sailed during the French Revolutionary Wars.

"Even some people still cite this fact that it was bad luck to have a woman on a ship, so sometimes when they were found out, they faced incredible violence," Newman said. 

She also interviewed women working on ships today, such as Gail Atkinson, the captain of an all-female lobster crew in Lunenburg.

According to the Chamber of Marine Commerce, women make up an estimated two per cent of the world's 1.2 million seafarers. Still, Newman said the tall ships she's worked on have long been welcoming to women, even if their contributions to the maritime industry are sometimes overlooked. 

"I really don't think they're known at all, definitely not as much as they should be," Newman said. "I think even I found a lot more than initially I knew about women seafarers doing this project."

Newman hung the large flags at the Lunenburg School of the Arts last fall. An online exhibition, entitled Seafaring Women's Personal Ensigns, can still be viewed. She's also turned the series into a small booklet.

She recently printed 50 copies, some of which she plans to distribute to local libraries. 

One of the flags that Newman created is divided into four sections with a golden four-leaf clover in the top right corner. 

It tells Erin Greig's story. She's originally from Bermuda and is now the first mate on Bluenose II, having worked on many tall ships, including the Picton Castle. 

"She really wants to, like, reach out her hand and help other young seafarers, especially young seafaring women who are going into the maritime industry," Newman said. "I thought that her story definitely deserved to be recognized."

Newman hopes to hold another exhibit soon to share the seafarers's stories with more Nova Scotians.