Magna Carta Women

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In 2015, we commemorated the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.  So, as I understood from the anniversary we were celebrating the simple ideas of freedom and justice, but I questioned what about the women and their gruelling journey of obstacles, prejudices and battles for the right to education, vote, equal pay and other basic human rights?  This was something I was passionate about particularly the social history of women. I wanted to create something that would inspire and inform the next generation and learn more about the history of women’s rights. 

Magna Carta Women, a quadriptych artwork and accompanying large-scale cutouts often found in seaside amusements, captures the journey of British women since the signing of the Magna Carta, 800 years ago. The 4-piece panel highlights notable women and men who have influenced British women in fighting for their rights. The theatrical collage drew its inspiration from stained glass windows found in churches, which was the main visual art form of the Magna Carta era. In the composition, Eve reaches for an apple and stands next to King John who signs the Magna Carta. The central pathway in the Garden of Eden features the Magna Carta itself. It features Mary Wollstonecraft (A Vindication of the Rights of Women), Emily Pankhurst (political activist and leader of the British suffrage movement), Heizi Mirza (Professor studying educational inequalities for Black and Asian females), John Stuart Mill (The Subjection of Women), George Lansbury (led the campaign for women's rights in parliament) and Edith Lanchester (protester against anti-women marriage laws), who all championed women's rights. 

The 50  women and men include: Marie de France, Nicolaa de la Haye, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, Catherine of Aragon, Christian de Pizan, Anne Askew, Jane Anger, Rachel Speight, Margaret Fell, Bathsua makin, Margaret Cavendish, Mary Astell, Janet Horne, Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Fry, Hannah Moore, the Ladies of Llangollen, Harriet Martineau, Mary Files, John Stuart Mill, Lydia Becker, Caroline Norton, Emily Faithfull, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Helen Priscilla Rabagliati, Millicent Fawcett, Emmeline Pankhurst, Caroline Haslett, George Lansbury, Laurence Housman, Ada Nield Chew, Lady Constance Bulwer-Lytton, Edith Lanchester, Emily Davison, Lilian Bland, Nancy Astor, Marie Stopes, Helena Normanton, Dorothy Hodgkin, Barbara Castle, Jill Sheila Tweedie, Angela Carter, Ann Oakley, Angela McRobbie, Heidi Mirza, Natasha Walter and Laura Bates.

The cutouts included Catherine of Aragon and Emmeline Pankhurst. An accompanying brochure was also available, depicting who's who.

In 2015, the project toured Devon, Surrey, Hillingdon, Windsor and Maidenhead including Runneymede National Trust, Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Royal Holloway University, Sarum College, Brunel University and other exhibition spaces. 

The project was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and from Royal Holloway University of London.