I participated in the 2018 Great North Run this year. After 6 months of knee injury, I decided I would still participate by walking it and I would raise money for my usual charity.

I still had my ‘Wonder woman’ costume from the London marathon which I ran in 2017. I had decided to wear it for fun. What I genuinely had not expected or thought about was that spectators, children and adults would start shouting, “Go Wonder Woman!” or “Look it’s Wonder woman!” or “Wonder woman you’ve got this!” This continued for 26 miles, all around London from children and adults of all ages, all classes and all ethnicities.

The strength of the ‘Wonder woman’ brand really surprised me.

As I write this a ‘light bulb’ moment went off. This is the power of Visual language.

The costume was enabling an opening, a space for communication with the people in the crowd. An understanding between us. An appreciation for the qualities of Wonder woman where people can relate to their own experience of  her.

Wonder woman was a hit television series when I was a child, she was played by actress Linder Carter. I remember her as sexy, strong and brainy. She was very beautiful, a woman fighting for justice.

This relates to my past work exploring the human experience and our relationship to iconic figures. How we invest in the stories of famous people living or dead ,giving them super powers, seeing them as god like or demonic, believing they are different from us, they are higher, blessed or special .