2018 marks 100 years since the right to vote was extended to some women in Britain. On International Women’s Day in March 2018, Knowle West asked its community to nominate women they felt should be celebrated by sharing stories about these women.
I’ve worked with the Knowle West community for over 10 years, and many of my projects have been with women. I really appreciate the strength, resilience, warmth, and, above all, the humour that so many local women possess. There are many extraordinary women making big differences to their community. There are also many unsung heroines – the mothers, school teachers and neighbours who quietly make a difference and deserve to be celebrated. So I loved working on this project, such powerful stories detailing acts of kindness, caring, tenacity and strength.
I was asked to come up with a creative response to the stories. When I think about connecting with people and sharing stories, sitting around over mugs of tea is the natural setting. So I created a ‘Mobile Tea Ceremony’ that can be taken out to groups, encouraging further chats over well brewed tea! The giant enamel tea pot, embellished with quotes from the stories, serves twenty people. The table runner is created from squares in the Suffragette Colours, embroidered by local residents and staff at KWMC.
Photos 1 & 3 in Gallery – by Ibolya Feher, courtesy of Knowle West Media Centre
