PROCESSIONS Banners - Artichoke Commissions

Artist: Claudette Johnson

Contributors: women service users from East London Foundation Trust in Tower Hamlets

Location: London

Materials: cotton, vinyl, wool, net, fabric paint, buttons

This banner was created by women service users from East London Foundation Trust in Tower Hamlets over a series of workshops led by artist, Claudette Johnson.
 
The banner features, ‘And Still I Rise’, the title of a poetry volume by poet and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou, as well as words and values that are important to the women who designed the banner. 

The banner also features a portrait of the black British activist, Olive Morris, who was a leading light in the feminist, black nationalist and squatters’ rights campaigns of the 70s. 

The focus of the banner grew from the recurring themes which arose in the group’s discussions: fairness, self-worth, being able define oneself instead of being defined by others, freedom and hope.

Artist: Delaine le Bas

Contributors: Sisters of Frida

Location: London

Materials: cotton, gauze, sequins, felt 

In collaboration with artist, Delaine le Bas, Sisters of Frida decided that their banner would mainly focus on Frida Kahlo. The figure of the hummingbird is the group’s logo and symbolises freedom and life, and the wheel represents the wheel of fortune, or change. 

Foliage, flowers and butterflies are often shown in Frida’s paintings. These elements make the banner visually interesting and ensured that the whole group could contribute. The group also chose to make the banner patchwork for this reason and so that they could work in the colours of the Suffragettes.

Artist: Heather Agyepong

Contributors: Harris Girls’ School East Dulwich, Year 7 pupils

Location: London

Materials: screenprint on fabric

Working with Heather Agyepong, year 7 girls reimagined themselves as WoC (Women of Colour) British Activists to symbolise the spirit that lives on within the next generation. The banner highlights the forgotten WoC and celebrates what they have done for women’s rights and marginalised communities in Britain.

Artist: Jess de Wahls

Contributors: Women For Refugee Women

Location: London

Materials: mixed textiles

In a series of workshops, charity Women For Refugee Women and textile artist, Jess de Wahls, came together to produce a banner stating, ‘Liberty – Safety – Dignity – for Women’, reflecting what must be achieved for all women. The banner depicts hand-embroidered national flowers of the participants as well as their handprints in fabric. It is made of entirely recycled materials.

In the words of artist, activist and academic, Lilla Watson: 

'If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time.
But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.'

Artist: Rudy Loewe

Contributors: Womankind Worldwide

Location: London

Materials: cotton, satin, jersey, acrylic paint, beading

Womankind Worldwide were keen that the banner reflected the kinds of women that they work with. These are women doing feminist organizing and forming women’s movements in Africa and Asia.
 
Rudy Loewe is a visual artist working with comics, illustrations and printmaking. Rudy currently collaborates as part of Collective Creativity, a group of 
artists focused on creating dialogue around queer artists of colour and black arts history. In 2016 Rudy founded Brown Island, in order to form a space at Konstfack for people of colour.

Artist: Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings

Contributors: ten hearing and eight deaf women from Brighton

Location: Brighton

Materials: viscose, satin, silk, cotton canvas, lace

With the Royal Pavilion, Brighton's most iconic building in the background, the images of the two Suffragettes represent the battles and achievements of the past being handed over to modern women to remember, honour and continue. 

For the group working with Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings, the daisy chain conveys the idea of being inextricably linked to the past as well as to each other. Their message is that by working together, we will achieve equality of representation. As a community of hearing and deaf women, the group celebrate achievements gained and remember, in the ongoing campaigns for equality, their ethos that, ‘we need to Be Visible, have a duty to Be Counted, so we can Be Free’.

Artist: Sadie Williams

Contributors: Girlguiding UK - Youth Advocates

Location: London

Materials: bonded metallic lame, print

Playing on the history of Girlguiding patches, the inspirational Youth Advocates identified the issues they felt were most important to communicate. Each patch represents one of these issues, such as 'Positive Body Image', 'LGBT Pride' and 'Period Poverty'. 

Artist, Sadie Williams, worked her love of modernity and craft into the piece by creating hand-collaged print designs with the Youth Advocates. The collages were heat-pressed onto metallic fabric and then cut, bonded and appliquéd onto shimmering fabrics (in the classic Suffragette colours). The bold and youthful banner proudly sports the slogan once used by the fearless Girlguiding originators at a Boys Scouts convention in 1909, who demanded that there should also be a space for young women to bond, adventure and grow strong together.  

Artist: Sarah-Joy Ford

Contributors: Republica Internationale Women’s Football Team and LGBT Foundation

Location: Manchester

Materials: mixed textiles

This banner celebrates women’s football and the radical possibilities for social change that it can bring. 

Sarah-Joy Ford and Republica Internationale raise the issues of ongoing sexism and homophobia faced by women in sport through their banner. Much anti-homophobia campaigning in sports has focused on men’s experiences, whereas this collaboration focuses on the unique challenges of being female and gay. The banner champions grass roots football, in particular explicitly anti-fascist teams like Republica Internationale as spaces for celebrating LGBT people, and challenging ongoing discrimination. 
  
Women’s rights belong to all women and the group's message is that therefore we must have inclusion, representation and solidarity for all women before we have true equality.

Artist: Sarah Maple

Contributors: Arcola Women's Theatre

Location: London

Materials: mixed textiles

The Arcola Women’s Theatre group wanted to recognize women who paved the way in their fields for future generations, since 1918. 
  
Sarah Maple is an award winning visual artist known for her bold, brave, mischievous, and occasionally controversial artworks. They challenge notions of identity, religion and the status quo. Much of Maple’s inspiration originates from being brought up as a Muslim, with parents of mixed religious and cultural backgrounds. 
  
‘It is so important to recognize what women went through to achieve the vote. It reminds us that although so much has changed, there is still so much that needs to be done. It feels like we are in the middle of a really important change right now for women and equality in general and PROCESSIONS is a perfect example of this. I feel so honoured to be asked to be part of this moment in history!’ - Sarah Maple

Artist: Vivienne Westwood

Location: London

Materials: mixed textiles, paint

British designer and activist Dame Vivienne Westwood rose to fame in the late 1970s - with her anarchic designs shaping the look of the punk movement.

Today, she is known as one of the most unconventional and outspoken designers in the world. She created this banner for PROCESSIONS to celebrate one hundred years of votes for women, and to highlight the global effort still needed for women’s and human rights. 

The banner highlights the need for the Catholic Church to reconsider their views on contraception in support of women’s rights and global evolution. The banner was created in Westwood’s London design studio, made from offcuts of fabric and hand painted graphics.

Artist: Roksanda

Contributors: women who live, work and are inspired by the Old Bailey

Location: London

Materials: mixed textiles

In 1912 & 1913 Emily Davison and Emmeline Pankhurst, stood in the dock in Court One of Central Criminal Court known as The Old Bailey and declared to the world what they were doing and why.

The women of the Bailey (From Judges, to Witness Support) worked with Roksanda to create our JUSTICE FOR WOMEN Processions Banner as relevant today as it was 100 years ago.

The imagery is of Lady Justice (who stands above the Old Bailey dome) with the words 'Without Fear or Favour, Affection or Ill Will' representing the judicial oath. Labour Learning Truth and Art decorate the inside of the dome of the Grand Hall at the Old Bailey and gold is used to reflect bright future for women. Ribbons reach down to lift a new generation of strong women up through Central Criminal Court.   

Artist: Holly Fulton

Location: London and Evesham

Materials: cotton panama, satin

‘As a female creative, lucky enough to be running and managing my own business and generating work that is my passion, it was an honour to be involved with PROCESSIONS and to recognise the legacy that was set in motion 100 years ago, acting as the catalyst for the freedom we enjoy today. The idea of uniting women the length and breadth of the UK is incredible; in the current climate, a celebration of who we are and the diversity that exists amongst us felt perfectly timed. A true celebration of womanhood in all its forms, to toast how far we have come and also still to go.’ - Holly Fulton
 

Artist: Anya Hindmarch

Contributors: a collaboration between Anya Hindmarch and Margaret Calvert

Location: London

Materials: cotton, leather

A subversion of the Men at Work road sign, Anya Hindmarch’s Women at Work banner was a homage to the work of Margaret Calvert OBE, the pioneering typographer and graphic designer who designed many of the road signs used throughout the United Kingdom. Anya Hindmarch was inspired by Calvert’s work for her Diversion collection and it has remained a constant source of inspiration. 

Artist: Hexxx

Contributors: participants from Welsh Women’s Aid

Location: London

Materials: screenprint on fabric

At the core of the banner is the manifesto, collectively written by a group of women from South Wales who have encountered gender based violence, working with Hexxx and Welsh Women’s Aid. This manifesto calls for the demands and needs of the group; from the personal to the political, local to national, sitting room to courtroom.

Reverse in the Welsh language

Reverse in the Welsh language