Tuesday, 19 March 2024
An exhibition at the University of Nottingham’s Lakeside Arts will showcase two new research collections documenting the battles fought by second-wave feminists in Nottingham.
Dear Sisters: Activists’ Archives, opens at Lakeside’s Weston Gallery on Thursday 21 March and runs until Sunday 1 September, and is free to enter. The exhibition has been curated by the University of Nottingham’s Manuscripts and Special Collections and presents archives gathered by the Nottingham Feminist Archive Group – a collective of local women, many of whom were active in the Women’s Liberation Movement.
Half a century ago new laws improving the rights of women changed our society for the better. The Equal Pay Act of 1970 and the National Abortion Campaign to protect the Abortion Act 1967, to name but two, were achieved through the organised activism of women taking part in Women’s Liberation, socialist politics, and trade unionism, and with the support of women fighting for personal and civil liberties. Nottingham had a significant women’s liberation group membership and played a strategic part in the wider women’s liberation movement.
The exciting collaboration between the University and the local network of women archivists, brings together their personal memories – zines, photographs, posters, papers, campaign badges and t-shirts – and highlights the work of the women involved in activism in their own communities.
Archivist Sarah Colborne of Manuscripts and Special Collections, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the positive response to the formation of the Feminist Archive (East Midlands). Over 35 interviews have been recorded so far but we are aware that there are many more stories that need to be captured."
At its heart lies the vivid oral history testimonies which really bring the archive to life, contextualising the material evidence of the women’s activism and revealing the impact on their lives and the legacy for the city and the region.
Visitors can view an amazing range of materials demonstrating the wide variety of forms that activism can take, from campaign flyers, minutes from meetings and photos of protests to the very creative responses of women activists through their screen printing, painting, performance art, poetry and song writing.
From the iconic feminist magazine Spare Rib, and Red Rag, the socialist feminist magazine, to rare records from the Nottingham Women Against Pit Closures, showing how women in the towns and pit villages worked to together to support the families of striking miners, will all be on display.
Magazine and zine culture of the 1970s and 1980s created belongingness and a public platform for a great diversity of women, giving them a place to be visible to like-minded people as well as to the rest of society. Their print culture complements the activism that took place in public spaces.
While feminist authors have remained in print and influential in academia especially, the activist originators of social change, especially at a local level, remain unknown and at risk of being forgotten. This exhibition and the archive underpinning it seeks to redress this. By preserving and presenting these living histories, future generations can explore and learn from the knowledge of their struggles.
A series of lectures and talks will also feature alongside the exhibition. Dr Panya Banjoko, founder of the Nottingham Black Archive will discuss Black women activists, and Dr Lisa McKenzie, who grew up in the coal-mining town of Sutton-in-Ashfield, will explore how the white working class in the UK are perceived. More details on all the events taking place can be found here.
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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