PROCESSIONS Banner

Lindy Richardson & Collaborators
PROCESSIONS Banner, 2018
Mixed media
Gifted in 2018
Art Collection: EU5661

On Sunday 10th June 2018, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the UK to commemorate 100 years of women gaining the right to vote. Front and centre of the Edinburgh procession were staff and students from Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) and the University of Edinburgh, marching behind a specially commissioned banner masterminded by ECA Textiles Programme Director Lindy Richardson.

Lindy was one of 100 female artists asked to create a banner for the landmark occasion. As well as women from the University community, Lindy worked with women prisoners from Cornton Vale in Stirling. This collaborative approach resulted in a truly unique, and political, textile artwork.

During a series of workshops at ECA and Cornton Vale, Lindy asked participants to embroider their take on issues around equality and diversity on a circular piece of fabric or rosette following group discussions on the topics. Also included in the overall artwork are a number of wearable embroidered placards made by second-year textiles students, conveying messages such as ‘They Fought, We Vote’ and ‘We Will Not Be Silent’.

The banner also features portraits of famous women such as Emily Pankhurst, Frida Kahlo and Malala Yousafzai along with slogans such as ‘Dump Trump’ and ‘Brain on Board’ and the embroidered matriculation signatures of the ‘Edinburgh Seven’; the first group of women to be admitted to a UK University.

After touring to various UK venues as part of an exhibition of all 100 commissioned banners, Richardson donated the work to the University art collection.

Story by Julie-Ann Delaney, Art Collections Curator