"Bells", in 'Motive/Motif: Artists Commemorate the Suffragettes'

'Motive/Motif: Artists Commemorate the Suffragettes' was co-curated by Charlotte Hodes Artist & Professor in Fine Art at London College of Fashion, UAL and Alison Moloney, Curator, Writer, Consultant.
This exhibition marked the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, and consisted of embroidered handkerchiefs designed by 20 contemporary artists.

The starting point for the exhibition was a piece of cloth embroidered in 1912 by Suffragettes imprisoned at Holloway Prison. Most of the 78 women who embroidered their signatures participated in demonstrations organised by the Women’s Social & Political Union. They were denied the status of political prisoners and many were force-fed.

The contemporary handkerchiefs are presented alongside the historic cloth embroidered with the names of seventy-eight Suffragettes, courtesy of The Women’s Library Collection at LSE. The exhibition also included photographs and information about each of the Suffragettes through an AV installation prepared by London College of Fashion, UAL.

Prof Helen Storey designed one of the pieces for this group show. The piece was created out of a victorian handkerchief with a faded & torn pale green silk chiffon overlaid. Silver bells were attached to add the punctuation of sound to the piece.

See also https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/15487/, https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/14427/