In 2015, the Houses of Parliament commissioned nine artists to each produce two large-scale banners reflecting on milestone moments from the UK’s constitutional history.
Now, after being on public display in Westminster Hall throughout 2015 as The Beginning of that Freedome exhibition, the banners have been gifted to organisations across the UK following an open call for applications.
Part of a programme marking 750 years since Simon de Montfort formed the first elected parliament and 800 years since the sealing of Magna Carta, the banners were designed to raise awareness and understanding of the UK’s democratic heritage by offering a visual representation of a diverse range of parliamentary bills and laws.
To watch videos of the artists discussing their work, click the link on their name.
Ruth Ewan, 1215 Magna Carta.
Magna Carta dealt with grievances against the rule of King John and increased the importance of Parliament while at the same time limiting the arbitrary power of government.
Ruth Ewan’s banner, which is one of four that will be added to the Parliamentary Archives, includes a quote from a description of Magna Carta by Charles George Cocke dating from 1651. Ewan says she was “drawn to the lyricism of the words as a metaphor of the breath and the body in relation to the idea of freedom”.
Rachel Gadsden, 1601 Poor Law.
The 1601 Poor Law obliged parishes to collect taxes to support people who could not work. Rachel Gadsden’s banner pays tribute to that law, but also to key figures and amendments that followed, including the founding of the NHS. “My narrative for the banner centres on my belief that society must be judged by its provision for those who are vulnerable,” she explains.
The banner will now hang in the school hall at Bidston Avenue Primary School on Merseyside.
Ross Birrell, 1647 The Putney Debates.
During the civil war in November 1647 a group known as the Levellers met with Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army in a church in Putney to debate constitutional topics including granting suffrage to more people. Ross Birrell’s banner references the sprigs of rosemary worn by the Levellers in their caps as a means of identification. The banner has been gifted to St Mary’s Church in Putney, London, where those debates took place.
Ross Sinclair, 1689 Bill of Rights.
The 1689 Bill of Rights guaranteed free speech in Parliament and the assurance that elections would be held regularly without interference from the monarch.
Speaking about the banner, which will go on permanent display in the Braid Centre, Ballymena, Ross Sinclair said: “I wanted it to be colourful, bright, like new proclamations; fresh and sharp, to give a sense of how these changes must have been experienced when brand new and radical.”
Maria Amidu, 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade.
Maria Amidu’s artwork features signatures of six men who campaigned to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire, written on envelopes containing multiple copies of the words Act, Campaign, Petition, Reform, Lobby and Argue.
Speaking about the banner, which will now hang in Westminster City Council’s Archives Centre Search Room, she says: “The envelopes allude to aspects of the transatlantic slave trade and the Act itself: to the people enslaved; confinement and the body.”
Alinah Azadeh, 1897 Foundation of the NUWSS.
An object “reclaimed by many women as a powerful weapon in their struggle for self-representation” is how Alinah Azadeh describes the typewriter in her banner. Azadeh has wrapped the typewriter in wool to represent the colours associated with groups that fought for women’s suffrage in the early 20th century: the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society, the Women’s Social and Political Union, and Women’s Freedom League.
The banner has been gifted jointly to the National Football Museum (Manchester) and the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (England, Wales, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man).
Paula Stevens-Hoar, 1967 Sexual Offences Act.
While homosexuality was decriminalised the year Paula Stevens-Hoar was born, she wanted her banner to reflect a continuing struggle against prejudice as well as to celebrate the work of prominent figures in the fight for equality. “I marched at Pride and against Clause 28, and I experienced prejudice first-hand. Efforts to win full equality continue,” she says.
The banner has been gifted to Thurston Community College, Suffolk.
Jason Wilsher-Mills, 1995 Disability Discrimination Act.
Although criticised at the time as inadequate, the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act went further than other discrimination laws, as employers and service providers had to make appropriate adjustments for deaf and disabled people. Strengthened in 2005, it was replaced in 2010 by the Equality Act.
Gifted to Shape Arts in London, Jason Wilsher-Mills says his banner reflects “my particular view of the world, utilising humour and popular culture icons, such as Frida Kahlo, along with snapshots of my life”.
See installation images of The Beginning of that Freedome banners on a-n’s Instagram. Use the Pictures of… tag for more in the series
More on a-n.co.uk:
Ruth Ewan wins Arts Foundation Award for art in urban space
Why my heart sinks when projects for disabled artists are seen as the way forward
Women and contemporary art: why gender inequality is still an issue
