PROCESSIONS - The Mass Artwork - London - Sunday June 10th 2018

"From March to May 2018 Made In Corby created a textile banner with Corby women under the guidance of artists Carole Miles and Phiona Richards from The Eloquent Fold, which you can read about the making of HERE. It was specially commissioned for PROCESSIONS by Artichoke as one of 100 banners made by groups all over the country to mark the centenary of the first women getting the right to vote in 1918 as part of 14-18 NOW celebrations.

On Sunday 10th June we took a coach load of Corby women to process the banner through the streets of London in a mass participation artwork that was a truly wonderful moment for all involved (you can see how the day went HERE.) Since then it has taken pride of place at the Votes & Voices exhibition organised by Corby Women’s Labour Forum at Rooftop Arts Centre throughout July 2018." from the made in Corby website.

My wearable banner, quiet trainers and picnic ready for the PROCESSIONS mass artwork march to celebrate 100 years since some women got the vote

Waiting to join the procession at the meeting point

Our banner takes to the streets

We became part of a river of purple, white and green

Under the guidance of Paula Boulton we sang

Suffragette songs loudly and proudly 

It was a magnificent day with so many

spectacular banners

The weather was amazing, the atmosphere was uplifting and I don't think that any of us that were there will ever forgetbeing part of such a wonderful reminder of those that fought so hard for so long to give us our vote, our voice! The wonderful Made in Corby team made sure that our group were safe, together and happy throughout the day. As The Eloquent Fold, Phiona and I felt so privileged to have been commissioned to undertake this project with such an glorious group of women! 

You can see more images from our day here 

PROCESSIONS - Week 2 - Inspirations and Designs

In our second PROCESSIONS session at Swan Gardens Phiona showed more video clips relevant to the project

We were unable to show this film but here is a link to Silk, Satin and Suffrage an lovely film showing some to the original Suffragette banners

Ann Leonard brought in a beautiful hand painted banner made in 1930 by The Womens' Co-operative Guild in 1934 and shared images of other Co-operative Womens' Guild banners. 

We were also able to enjoy the wonderful Corby Town Map banner made with the community by Corby Community Arts brought in by Kate Dyer who was able to share the spirit of those making sessions and why they were so important to the women who helped create it. It was made using a variety of sewing and dying techniques and features important Corby landmarks that were in place before the regeneration in the town took place.

We then gave the group papers and materials to use and invited them to start sketching out their banner ideas in the light of the PROCESSIONS Brief

THE BRIEF

Your PROCESSIONS banner should represent the lives, ideas, hopes and concerns of women today. It should be bold, beautiful and uniquely yours. Whatever you put on it should be heartfelt. Onlookers will only have a short time to see its message, so make it simple, punchy and clear.

Please make sure that you: 

1. Incorporate the colours green, white and violet into your banner somewhere. You can choose any shades of these colours and can do anything from the PROCESSIONS logo stitched in the corner – to the whole thing being made from these colours.

2. Back your banner in black or very dark material. This is so that we will be able to pick them out in photos.

At the end of the evening were shared all the sketches, chose the elements the group wants to use and decided that as well as the DEEDS NOT WORDS slogan they also wanted to incorporate the slogan from our youngest participant - WE WILL CHANGE THE WORLD!