Historic England and London College of Fashion

The banners created in collaboration with Historic England highlight the history of women’s rights witnessed and reflected in London’s unique heritage. The women from the Making for Change programme at HMP Downview worked with the London College of Fashion, artists Lucy and Jorge Orta. The programme was founded in Holloway prison, one of the most notorious sites associated with the suffrage movement in London. The banners engage with this incredible history, reflecting the perspective of the last remaining women connected to HMP Holloway, who are still denied the vote. This banner was inspired by the 1910 Women’s Social and Political Union Holloway Prisoners banner designed by Ann Macbeth and held at the Museum of London

“My interest levels reached a new high [taking part in the project]. I began to watch all the programmes on suffragettes. I looked at how they were treated in Holloway at that time to how women are treated now. I am proud to have been involved in this project a part of history and its equality, freedom and women’s votes.”
Workshop participant from HMP Downview.

Historic England are the public body that helps people care for, enjoy and celebrate England's spectacular historic environment.

Lucy Orta's practice investigates the boundaries between the body and architecture, exploring their common social factors, communication and identity. She uses the media of drawing, couture, sculpture, performance, video and photography to realize a singular body of work that includes, Refuge Wear and Body Architecture (1992–98), portable, lightweight and autonomous structures that question issues of mobility and survival; Nexus Architecture (1994–2002), public interventions in which participants connect to each other, shaping modular and collective structures that visualize the concept of the social link, and Life Guards (2004–ongoing), which reflects on the body as a metaphorical supportive framework.