Processions project starting in Coventry on April 4th.

Processions

Imagineer is thrilled to be one of 100 organisations taking part in Processions, a mass participation artwork to celebrate one hundred years of votes for women led by Artichoke.

In 1918, the Representation of the People Act gave the first British women the right to vote and stand for public office. One hundred years on, women and girls across the UK will come together to mark this historic moment as part of a living portrait of women in the 21st century.

On Sunday 10th of June, women and girls in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London will walk together as part of this celebratory mass participation artwork. Wearing either green, white or violet, the colours of the suffrage movement, the PROCESSIONS will appear as a flowing river of colour through the city streets.

One hundred women artists are being commissioned to work with organisations and communities across the UK to create one hundred centenary banners for PROCESSIONS as part of an extensive public programme of creative workshops.

Coventry based artists Julia O'Connell and Julie Joannides (who also designed and created Godiva's magnificent coat for Godiva Awakes) have been commissioned to work with women at the Moathouse and Hagard Community Centres as part of Imagineer's art caf programme to create a new centenary banner for Coventry.

This vast artwork is based on an original idea by creative director Darrell Vydelingum.

PROCESSIONS is commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK's arts programme for the First World War centenary and produced by Artichoke. With support from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund, and from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Women and girls across the UK are invited to mark this historic moment as part of a living portrait of women in the 21st century. You can register to join PROCESSIONS HERE.

Julia's Blog

BANNER MAKERS - MARCH FORWARD!

My name is Julia O'Connell and myself and Julie Joannides are the commissioned artists to create a new banner for Imagineer Productions that will feature as part of the PROCESSIONS March on June 10th, 2018 in London.

My arts practice is in textiles together with Julie and some other fabulous artists we created the coat for Imagineer's wonderful six metre Godiva which was part of the Cultural Olympiad in 2012.

Now we look forward to creating a new Coventry banner working with some wonderful women at the Moathouse and Hagard Community Centres and this will form part of PROCESSION in June.

Julie and I have recently held our first planning session, working out potential designs and researching the practicalities of how to make a double banner. The significance of a banner and what message you need to get across is huge. Banners have been created for years and many were handmade using cotton sheets and paint for the message or fabric scraps appliqued on to a backcloth forming large letters and images with the objective of being prominent and viewed from a distance in processions or marches.

There is a wonderful museum in Manchester, The People's History Museum. It holds a range of professionally made union banners as well as people made' banners throughout the last centuries. George Tutill was a famous manufacturer of banners and whilst these have a skill and value, I also appreciate the passionate homemade banners from early co-operatives and protest groups.

During our first planning session Julie and I focussed on the language of colour and symbolism used in banner making and we will hold a creative workshop with our new groups to stimulate conversation around the messages and values held by the women about Coventry and their lives. Everyone has heard of Godiva and understands she stood for fairness, justice and equality, so we think this is a good starting point and we look forward to making new stitches in Coventry soon.

Julia O'Connell

LINK:	http://www.imagineer-productions.co.uk/processions-project-starting-in...
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