Ostra-Oinas was a political figure and activist in the women's movement during the pre-war era of the Republic of Estonia. The monument represents a character from Kasearu's sculpture series "Monumental Neglect."

The equestrian statue series originated in 2023 at the Vabamu Museum exhibition "Out from Behind the Stove!", curated by Piret Karro.

"A few years ago, Vabamu's exhibition 'Out from Behind the Stove: 150 Years of the Estonian Women's Movement' was a historic show, built on the realization that the history of the Estonian women's movement and feminism had been fairly underwritten. We didn't know very much about it — perhaps something about recent history, but certainly not, for example, that there was a very active women's movement in pre-war Republic of Estonia," said curator Piret Karro.

Karro invited Flo Kasearu to participate as the exhibition's artist.

"Kasearu came up with the idea of creating a series of equestrian monuments. As is well known, there are very few equestrian statues dedicated to women in Estonia or elsewhere in the world. Most depict male soldiers on horseback. So we thought: there are countless important women in our history who deserve monuments in exactly the same way," Karro explained.

Seven women from different periods in Estonian history were selected, ranging from writer and feminist Lilli Suburg to social scientist Marju Lauristin and art historian Eha Komissarov. Already during the exhibition, the idea began to develop of eventually bringing the sculptures into public urban space.

"We found a partner interested in equestrian monuments who was willing to fund the project. Smaller equestrian statues were placed in front of Arter center; those same small ones were then cast in bronze. But that wasn't enough — the project kept growing and became much larger, and eventually we decided to create one on a full scale," said artist Flo Kasearu.

Thus, in May, without much fanfare, a life-size bronze monument appeared on the green area behind the Arter office building. It shows Alma Ostra-Oinas, a Social Democratic political figure and women's movement activist from the period of the pre-war Republic of Estonia, spurring her horse forward. The artist has given the work a slightly awkward, timeworn appearance.

"It looks as if it might have been erected decades ago — perhaps even during Alma's lifetime. It's all conceptual, and the idea is for the monument to appear as if it has stood here for a very, very long time," Kasearu said.

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