Edinburgh College of Art (Edinburgh University)

The banner brings together a series of badges as responsive slogans from the group’s discussions around suffrage and the disenfranchised. Each of the badges were made individually by group members, some in university, some at home and some in cells in Corntonvale Prison. Each participant has a badge of equal size and space on the banner, every voice and statement being equal in this united artwork. The banner celebrates influential women past, present and future who have inspired, and continue to inspire women seeking equality and change.

At PROCESSIONS on 10th June, the group also carried pennants emblazoned with the names of ‘The Edinburgh Seven’, the UK’s first female university students matriculated at Edinburgh University and admitted from 1869. They had a very difficult experience negotiating their way into education and endured terrible prejudice. They were pelted with eggs and flour when entering the examination hall, and there was even a sheep let loose in the exams to disrupt proceedings. The Seven took their case to the House of Lords, asking that they be allowed to vote as university graduates. Their case was thrown out.

Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is a leading international art college within the University of Edinburgh. Located in the historic Old Town of one of the world’s greatest cultural cities, they offer a creative and supportive environment in which to study one of 80 ground-breaking programmes or take forward research within a global Top 50 institution.