Golden Thread Gallery: ‘Everywoman’

This banner was inspired by traditional Irish banners, mainly from the Hibernian and Orange Order traditions in the North of Ireland. These are very patriarchal organisations and the participants wanted to reclaim this style of banner for themselves. Orange Order banners traditionally depict William of Orange on a white horse. The group wanted to completely rethink this image, using collage and images of as many different types of women as they could. Using old prints and contemporary magazines, the women created an image of the white horse, head bowed, with women cascading down around its side. Symbolic purple butterflies in the Suffragette colour frame the image, and the glamorous leopard backdrop symbolises a fighting cat spirit. The women who participated in the workshops ranged from 30 to 75, with the majority being over 60.

“This just shows us that the fight is not over. I’m bringing my wee daughter to the parade, she’s only 8. I want her to see that women are strong and capable!”
Diane, workshop participant.

Golden Thread Gallery (GTG) is a medium-scale, publicly funded, contemporary art gallery based in Belfast that is recognised as having charitable status. It provides a welcoming space for the public to engage with contemporary visual art, and has grown steadily since it was founded in 1998. GTG is recognised for its engagement with recent histories and re-imagined futures: the majority of its programme is engaged with offering the public a contextual experience of the visual art of our time.