PROCESSIONS Banners made in South East England and London

Artist: Quilla Constance (aka Jennifer Allen). Typography by Katie Allen

Contributors: Bedford Creative Arts

Location: Bedford

Materials: mixed textiles, Indonesian and sub-Sahara African batik, Chinese silk, sequins, wire, beads, safety pins, screen-print, laminated paper

Paying homage to the bold designs of the Suffragettes, Bedfordshire’s fluorescent, sequin-emblazoned, sci-fi-punk-carnival creation is a banner for the 21st century. 

Playfully reflecting 21st century popular culture and the many cultures of the Bedfordshire community with defunct QR codes, B-movie influenced typography and triffid-inspired creatures, the banner also celebrates the diverse fabrics of the world.

The banner was designed and made collaboratively through a series of workshops with women from Bedfordshire led by artist Quilla Constance and produced by Bedford Creative Arts. The banner was created to acknowledge the spirit of the early fight for the right to vote and as a reminder of the strength of women today, powering towards a better future for the women of tomorrow.

Artist: Ali Pretty   

Contributors: Silk River artists. With Kinetika

Location: Purfleet 

Material: Hand woven, undyed Murshidabad silk 

Building on 2017’s Silk River legacy, which connected communities along the lower Thames Estuary, Kinetika, led by lead artist Ali Pretty, continued to work with Silk River artists from five communities – Barking & Dagenham, Dartford, Purfleet, Gravesham and Southend – to create five silk batik banners, one for each community.  

The artists drew up a longlist of inspirational local women, past, present and future, either working in their communities or in the public eye across a range of professions. The public were invited to vote on social media to select the women who would be represented on the final banners. 

This banner features the following inspirational women selected from a public call for nominations: Georgia Mae Fenton, a 17 year-old who won a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She features in the centre of the banner.

Parm Gill, who developed and coached the successful girls team at the Gravesend Guru Nanak Football Club.

Enid Marx, an English painter and designer who taught at Gravesend School of Art. She was the first woman to be designated as Royal Designer for Industry and was well known for her textile designs for the London Transport Board. Her work has inspired the background patterns and swans. 

For this banner, the following inspirational women were selected for their connection to Thurrock:

Fatima Whitbread overcame the difficulties of a turbulent childhood to become a renowned javelin thrower. She was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1987. 

Kate Luard was born in Aveley in 1872. She trained as a nurse and served in South Africa during the Boer War and in the First World War. She was awarded a Royal Red Cross and Bar for exceptional service in military nursing.  

This banner features the following inspirational women: 
  
Rosina Sky (1858-1928) was a single mother of three and an active Suffragette, who led the charge for votes for women in Southend. Running her own tobacconist shop, a woman in a man’s world, Rosina had all the responsibilities with none of the rights accorded to men in the same position. In 1911, she defied authority by refusing to adhere to the census, writing across the form, ‘No votes for women. No information from women’.

Lucy is an international sailing champion. She has won a number of gold medals in international sailing competitions and has proved that nothing is impossible, as Lucy is registered blind. She has been an inspirational sporting figure for many years winning the Rochford District Sports Personality of the Year in 2010. Lucy won two silver and two bronze medals, then going on to achieve her dream of a gold medal. In 2013 she was awarded an MBE in recognition of her achievements both on and off the water.

Maise Riley is a 16-year-old student at Chase High Academy, where she has been a prefect and head girl, sitting on the school’s student council for many years. She also organises and runs many fundraising events in sports, arts, debating and drama. Maise is an active member of the youth council and is currently the elected Youth Mayor for Southend and the LGBT Chair for Southend.

This banner features the following inspirational women: 
  
Mme Osterberg was a pioneering founder for women's physical education at Dartford College and introduced netball to the UK. Images of the game were used alongside her portrait to represent her spirit and her revolutionary approach to the establishment.

Cllr Patsy Thurlow holds the Arts Portfolio for Dartford Cabinet and one of her personal achievements over the last 20 years includes her work with young people. This banner includes a portrait of her and a marquee to illustrate the annual Dartford festival and Skate Park, with skate-boarders. 

The 'What if...? Gallery' in Dartford highlighted the work of Anne Graves and Ruth Howard, who have volunteered for 13 years to present community art workshops. 

The Dagenham Ford Strikers were local women who made history in 1968 by changing the way women were paid. They encouraged the government to establish the Equal Pay Act, paving the way for others to do the same and championed the emerging Women’s Movement during the late sixties and seventies.

Mo Obadina was born in Nigeria, lives in Barking & Dagenham and has studied to PhD level whilst working and raising a family as a single mother. She has written a book to encourage others, is a positive role model, gives talks and works to unite communities and engage people in cultural activities. Mo now lectures at the South Bank University. 

Rachel Stubbs is 18 and has just completed her first year at UCA studying Film Production. She started there a year earlier than her peers after achieving high grades in her BTEC, despite having dyslexia and dyspraxia. Rachel is a proactive member of her community and has taken part at various local events and community projects. She would like to follow her degree with a career in film, possibly at the new studios opening in Dagenham.

Artist: Madeline Herbert with Claudia Mayer

Contributors: Tara Arts

Location: London

Materials: sari silk, felt, muslin, wool, cotton, beads

This banner celebrates Shakti, the goddess of power, and illustrates the dynamic creative forces empowering her daughters. Drawing on the rich textile heritage and embroidery techniques of South Asia, the group have used recycled saris and fabrics kindly donated by women local to Tara Arts, in south west London.

Artist: Lucy Tammam

Contributors: women in HMP Foston Hall, The Beth Centre in London, Anawim Women's Centre in Birmingham. With Women in Prison

Location: London

Materials: mixed textiles, beads

This banner is called FREEDOM and was created by the national charity Women in Prison, working with women who are affected by the criminal justice system. Workshops were held in the women’s prison, HMP Foston Hall, and two women’s centres, Anawim Women’s Centre in Birmingham and the Beth Centre in London.

The group were inspired by the branding and motifs used by the Suffragettes and created symbols and imagery to represent the fights and struggle of women today who are affected by the criminal justice system. The project was particularly poignant for this group as women in prison are still unable to vote and continue to encounter many barriers to having their voices heard. 

 
 

Artists: Amarjeet K Nandhra and Dawn Thorne

Contributors: South Hill Park Arts Centre

Location: Bracknell

Materials: mixed textiles

This banner marks the centenary of voting rights for some women, signifying the beginning of an important journey. The group wished to celebrate how far women have come, whilst also marking 2018 as a time for reflection on how much still needs to be achieved. 

The group wishes for the demand, ‘Hear our Voice’, to be upheld as a right for us all, not just for the privileged. The banner’s message is that diverse voices of women and girls from all sections of the community, those marginalised and ignored, must also be heard, and that together, we stand stronger.
 

Artist: Angela Maddock

Contributors: staff from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, including: Melissa Cardenas, Claire Dossi, Onyinye Nwulu, Barbara Fuller, Angela Aboagye, Heather Wood, Hendrika Santer Bream 

Location: London

Materials: mixed textiles

Created by women working at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust with the support of the Crafts Council, this banner celebrates women in healthcare. 

Stitched into the River Thames are the names of well-known women in healthcare, including Mary Seacole, Florence Nightingale, Edith Cavell and more contemporary women, such as Dr Kate Granger MBE, whose #hellomynameis campaign has improved communication between staff and patients across the NHS. 

The group also acknowledge the Windrush Nurses and Midwives and women directly involved in Guy’s and St Thomas’, like the Chief Nurse, Dame Eileen Sills.
 

While they worked, the group shared stories of their work, lives and individual women who inspired them; their names are stitched on the flowers at the bottom of the banner. The word ‘respect’ is included to represent the group’s demand that women in healthcare be recognised and respected.

Artist: Natasha Cossey

Contributors: Cardboard Citizens

Location: London

Materials: cotton, canvas, felt 

Cardboard Citizens is a theatre company and charity, making life-changing theatre with people affected by homelessness. The banner was created by the company’s female members, who have experience of homelessness, alongside artist Natasha Cossey. Inspired by the Suffragettes, the group reflected on their experiences of solidarity, resistance and their heroines from whom they take strength.

These stories are represented by the images and symbols on the banner. ‘Change HerStory’ pays homage to the strong women who have fought before us and is a provocation to consider what needs to change to improve opportunities for women now, and in the future.

Artist: Lucy Orta

Contributors: women serving sentences in HMP Downview. With Historic England and London College of Fashion

Location: London

Materials: linen, cotton, silk

This banner highlights the history of women’s rights, witnessed and reflected in London’s unique heritage. They worked with the London College of Fashion, artist Lucy Orta and women from the Making for Change programme at HMP Downview. The programme was founded in Holloway prison, one of the most notorious sites associated with the suffrage movement in London.

This banner engages with this incredible history, reflecting the perspective of the last remaining women connected to HMP Holloway, who are still denied the vote.
 

Artist: Clare Marsh

Contributors: Firstsite's Young Art Kommunity (YAK), Colchester

Location: Colchester

Materials: fleece

Working with textile artist Clare Marsh, Firstsite’s Young Art Kommunity (YAK) began with exploring the history of the Suffragettes’ struggle. YAK were particularly moved by the lengths Suffragettes were prepared to go to in their fight against the outrageous inequalities women experienced. 
  
The group discussed the importance of universal suffrage and the current struggles confronting their generation, with a focus on voting age, young women, clothing and the way individuality can be expressed. School uniform was a topic addressed at length, as was the dress code still expected of women within a business environment. 

After discussion of possible wording for the banner, the group decided to focus on the expression of individual voices as part of a universal message of solidarity. This was combined with sashes made and worn by individual participants expressing their own personal self-definitions.  

Artist: Janey Moffat

Contributors: Hastings Contemporary PROCESSIONS group

Location: Hastings

Materials: cotton, polycotton, denim, felt, safety pins, studs, chain, wool, yarn 

The Hastings women in the group wished to capture the positive yet gently rebellious spirit that embodies their town, with a nod to its sunny seaside location, history of punks and bohemian eccentrics. 

The banner is a call to female change-makers across generations living in Hastings. It asks them to stand up and free their voices in an unafraid bid to evolve equality for women, particularly for those who are oppressed and unable to speak for themselves. 

The seagull is named Muriel after Ms. Matters, the famous hot air ballooning, daredevil Suffragist who lived in Hastings.
 

Artist: Nicola Donovan

Contributors: local textile artists. With Modern Art Oxford

Location: Oxford

Materials: cotton, silk, photo transfer, gold leaf, sequin chainmail 

Modern Art Oxford is thrilled to have been involved in PROCESSIONS. They worked with a group of local textiles artists to create a single banner representing women, their rights and their hopes for the future.

'Our message is that the right to vote is hard won, and that it gives all of us some power, if we use it.  If we feel powerless, there is even more reason to use it, because nothing will change unless we do.' Nicola Donovan, lead PROCESSIONS artist at Modern Art Oxford.

Artist: Ruth Ewan 

Contributors: Nine Elms Vauxhall Partnership

Location: London

Materials: silk, mixed textiles

This banner is a tribute to the incredible life and work of Suffragist, social activist and co-founder of the Women’s Freedom League, Charlotte Despard. In the second half of her life Mrs Despard moved to Nine Elms on the south bank of the River Thames in central London, a very deprived area in the late 19th century. 

Mrs Despard worked tirelessly to improve conditions for local people by setting up free healthcare services, social clubs and becoming a Poor Law Guardian. She continued to fight for the poor and dispossessed for nearly fifty years, right up until her death in 1939, aged 95.

Artist: Miriam Nabarro

Contributors: Clean Break

Location: London

Materials: mixed textiles

This banner grew from a series of collaborative workshops centred around votes, voice, women and those who are excluded from voting. 

The group did extensive research and discovered a 1918 slogan, ‘Voteless NOT Voiceless, which they decided to reuse. They found a piece of 100-year-old linen and dyed it in the colours of the Suffragette movement. They then borrowed gestures which the group had created in a theatre exercise about power. 

As Clean Break works with women with lived experience of the criminal justice system and as prisoners in the UK are denied the vote, the group felt that there was still a lot to shout about.

Artist: Clary Salandy

Contributors: The UK Centre For Carnival Arts; Luton Association of Mas; attendees to the Luton’s Women Like Me Conference. Individual contributors: Janet, Maragret, Amara, Klaudia, Anastazja, Maurreen, Durrelle, Sylvia, Nazia, Maureen, Sue, Laxmi, Kate, Michelle, Clary, Patricia, Annmarie

Location: Luton

Materials: silk, foam, paint, velcro

This banner is an expression of equality and diversity, values which the group want to convey that the people of Luton strive to uphold.

Two faces of different colours are equally placed on either side of the word 'Luton'. They are in the colours of the Suffragette movement and decorated with the figures of people, representing Luton’s diversity.

The word ‘equality' is underpinned by a crowd of colourful women, who advocate for 'three v's': 'to be valued, to be visionary, and to use their voices for positive change'. Carnival Arts artists and the community worked together to bring this message to life in the banner. 

Artist: Heidi Wigmore

Contributors: girls from The Deanes School Thundersley aged from 11 to 14. With Metal Culture

Location: Southend-on-Sea

Materials: vinyl, cotton, wool, net, buttons

This banner celebrates the girls’ multiple identities and ‘creative selves’. It is an assertive, self-assured response to the pressure they all feel from social media to be ‘perfect’. Together, they created the slogan, which is a positive rallying cry to girls everywhere.

The aesthetic of the banner is a subversion of the ubiquitous ‘selfie’ and includes fantasy figures composed of expressive ‘knowing’ self-portraits with collaged bodies. These figures express freedom and creativity, flying free against a blue sky backdrop. 

The digitally-printed design is finished with metallic holographic vinyl and celebratory handmade pompoms for maximum effect and fun.

Artist: Heidi Wigmore

Contributors: ‘Essex Girls Liberation Front’ and members of the public aged from 13 to 75. With Metal Culture

Location: Southend-on-Sea

Materials: vinyl, cotton, wool, net, buttons

This banner celebrates Women of Essex. It includes Suffragettes who had Essex connections, women from the ‘Clever Essex’ project who achieved great things in literature, science, theatre and politics in the wider world, and contemporary women active in the ‘Essex Girls Liberation Front’, who exist to challenge the negative connotations around the ‘Essex Girl’ stereotype. 

The quote came from Essex Suffragette, Amy Hicks, at a rally in Colchester in 1908, who said that campaigners for women’s suffrage were ‘neither freaks nor frumps!’.

The digitally-printed collage aesthetic is appropriated from the iconic Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s album cover, while the handmade and embroidered flowers honour the memory of the women who ‘Dared to be Free’.

Artist: Jessica Voorsanger

Contributors: Jessica Voorsanger’s Posse of Protesters (including POW! Thanet, East Kent Mencap and UCA Canterbury)

Location: Margate

Materials: mixed textiles

The banner was produced beside the sea in Margate, Kent. The four corners feature portraits by artist, Jessica Voorsanger, of inspirational women: 

Millicent Fawcett (11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929): British feminist, intellectual, political leader, activist and writer.

Sojourner Truth (c. 1797 – November 26, 1883): African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist.

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh (8 August 1876 – 22 August 1948 ): a prominent Suffragette and accredited physician in the United Kingdom.

Emmeline Pankhurst: the leader of the British Suffragette movement. 

These are stitched amongst individual panels created by each woman in the group, who proudly marched in Suffragette costumes, ringing glass bells, for PROCESSIONS.

Artist: Fiona Muller

Contributors: Norfolk & Norwich Festival Solidarity Group

Location: Norwich

Materials: cotton, mixed textiles

The sheer fabric on the front of this banner is printed with anti-feminist quotes and posters. These have then been slashed through with a cross, representing the act of voting and paying homage to Suffragettes, who slashed paintings to publicise their cause.

Underneath is a message of solidarity from the group to women who are unable to vote. Each letter is embroidered with abstract images representing women who can’t vote because of the laws of their native country, or because they are homeless, imprisoned, or refugees.  

Artist: Houria Niati 

Contributors: Southall Black Sisters (SBS) Support Group clients

Location: Southall

Materials: mixed textiles, acrylic paint

The group created a banner celebrating the centenary of the first women to get the vote. They discussed themes of the Suffragette movement, equating it to the demonstrations and activism of Southall Black Sisters (SBS). 

Their banner pays homage to Princess Sophia Duleep Singh (1876-1948), a key figure in the Suffragette movement and a contemporary of Emmeline Pankhurst (1858 – 1928), whose contribution has been mostly forgotten.

SBS clients included phrases which resonated with them such as ‘Deeds not Words’ and ‘Struggle Not Submission’, to convey their message that some women today still do not have the vote.