Her Court: The Role Wimbledon Played in the Suffragette Movement : A Young Masters Exhibition Project In collaboration with Wimbledon Museum

The Young Masters Open Call 2026 has now closed.

Thank you to all artists who submitted proposals for Her Court: The Role Wimbledon Played in the Suffragette Movement.

Selected artists and exhibition details will be announced shortly.

Additional events will be announced.

Drawing on the museum’s local history collections and archives, the exhibition explores the little-known relationship between Wimbledon and the women’s suffrage movement. The exhibition explores themes of courage, resistance, erasure, public voice, women’s lives, hidden stories, symbolism and colour, place, power and change.

The project engages with the suffrage palette of purple, white and green, the history of Wimbledon, and wider narratives surrounding women’s rights and representation. The exhibition will bring together contemporary artistic responses across disciplines, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, textiles, performance, film and digital practice.

Selected artists will have the opportunity to engage with the archives of Wimbledon Museum, creating work that responds to the exhibition’s curatorial themes and historical artefacts connected to the fight for women

The exhibition will place contemporary artworks in dialogue with archival materials and local social history within Wimbledon Museum’s historic setting.

Curatorial Research & Historical Context

The research behind Her Court focuses on the visual and symbolic relationship between Wimbledon, women’s suffrage and early twentieth-century political identity.

At the centre of this history is Rose Lamartine Yates, a leading suffrage campaigner and founder of the Wimbledon Women’s Social & Political Union (WWSPU). Deeply influenced by the social ideals of William Morris, Yates became a key organiser within militant suffrage activism. In 1909, she was imprisoned for her activism and later awarded the Holloway Brooch by the WWSPU. This brooch is now held in the Wimbledon Museum collection.

The exhibition also explores the symbolic overlap between the visual language of Wimbledon tennis and the suffrage movement. While Wimbledon itself was not a suffrage institution, its associations with discipline, visibility, respectability and dress codes intersect with the suffragettes’ strategic use of colour and public image.

Today, the suffrage colours of purple, white and green continue to resonate, forming visual bridges between political history, sport, fashion and contemporary identity.

Exhibition Themes

Her Court considers how histories of protest, visibility and women’s political voice continue to resonate within contemporary culture today. The exhibition explores themes of courage, resistance, erasure, public voice, women’s lives, hidden stories, symbolism and colour, place, power and change.

About the Exhibition

A collaborative museum exhibition with strong international visibility, presented by Young Masters in collaboration with Wimbledon Museum.

The exhibition will be promoted by Young Masters, Wimbledon Museum and the Wimbledon Society, reaching collectors, curators, cultural professionals and contemporary art audiences internationally. Young Masters currently reaches an engaged audience of over 63,000 collectors, curators, cultural professionals and contemporary art audiences across its digital platforms, website and mailing lists.

All exhibited work will be available for sale throughout the exhibition period, with sales split 50% to the artist and 50% to Young Masters.

Professional Advisors & Curatorial Panel

The project is supported by a distinguished curatorial and advisory panel including:

• Helen Pankhurst CBE, great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and convenor of Centenary Action

• Pamela Greenwood, Art Historian and Curator of Wimbledon Museum

• Yasmin Jones Henry, Financial Times Writer, Cultural Placeshaping Strategist and Founder of The Lab W1

• Sabine Taal, Dutch Fundraiser and Philanthropist

• Sarah Jane Moon, British-New Zealand award-winning Artist and Educator

• Liz Hoggard, Journalist and Art Critic

 

ABOUT YOUNG MASTERS

The Young Masters Art Prize is a curatorial platform that celebrates and supports emerging artists from across the world who are inspired by the art of the past. Young Masters was founded by gallerist Cynthia Valianti Corbett in 2009 as a not-for-profit juried Art Prize, inspired by her love of Art History and the Old Masters. The success of the Prize has grown with six incredible editions and has spotted the talents of over 400 artists who are part of our alumni network. Now, in 2026, our revitalised mission is to support emerging artists from across the world, bringing their work to a wider audience through a curated programme of pop-up exhibitions and fairs as well as maintaining a vibrant online presence that showcases our wide network of talented artists. This global visibility and support can be career-making and life-changing, with opportunities for sales, exhibitions, gallery representation, press and much more.
https://www.young-masters.co.uk/her-court-2026