By Tessa Chynoweth, Curator, Pankhurst Centre
Ambassadors have been making some decisions about the Centenary City archive and exhibition today! The exhibition will open on the 21st November 2018 and we’ve been thinking hard about what should be included in it… Several themes have emerged from the material that’s been submitted throughout the year. Here’s some of the pictures of the day, kindly taken by Sabrina Fuller, if you’d like to see…
The theme of ‘threads’ was particularly strong, and allowed us to weave our way from Manchester’s past, in cotton production and radical protest, to today’s responses to the centenary, which have overwhelmingly taken the form of embroidered works, contemporary banners, and radical dress-making.
Stories of ‘Super Women’ have also appeared in our archive and on the Manchester; Centenary City digital map, and suggest another theme, of inspirational Manchester women, who, like the suffragists and suffragettes, are dedicated champions for the rights of women in contemporary contexts.
Another theme that made itself heard very clearly in the the archive is that of the female voice; the vote may have been a way that some women were represented in parliament, but the centenary has reminded us that there is still much to be done to ensure female voices are heard…