Sarah McAlister
The Courage of Her Convictions, 2026
Found Textiles
136 x 68 cm
53 1/2 x 26 3/4 in.
53 1/2 x 26 3/4 in.
SMA001
This banner is presented as a traditional embodiment of craft, protest, and the public declaration of intent. This work draws upon that lineage, positioning itself within a history of making...
This banner is presented as a traditional embodiment of craft, protest, and the public declaration of intent. This work draws upon that lineage, positioning itself within a history of making as activism, where textiles become both voice and vessel.
The banner measures 68 cm in width and 136 cm at its longest. In using a colour palette of green, white, and purple, it references both the Wimbledon Women’s Social and Political Union and the visual language of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, bringing together two seemingly distinct histories through a shared place.
The construction ethos is central to the work: the banner has been made entirely from found fabrics. This approach grounds the piece in material histories that carry their own traces of use, memory, and care.
From a wide range of potential references within the brief, four key elements have been distilled and abstracted:
A hand-embroidered quotation by Rose Lamartine Yates forms the focal point of the piece: “Every woman must have the courage of her convictions and not slink back when she takes her first step.” This statement, made following her arrest at the Houses of Parliament in February 1909, is stitched onto a man’s handkerchief. The handkerchief itself operates as both material and metaphor, connecting to tennis player Evonne Goolagong, who wore her father’s handkerchief in remembrance after his sudden death. In this way, the object becomes a site of personal and political inheritance.
Flame motifs are at the background of the banner. These reference the attempted arson of the Wimbledon Championships in 1913, symbolising both destruction and renewal. The flames speak to the intensity of the suffragette struggle, while also representing a generative force—igniting future acts of resistance and giving the work its title.
In acknowledgement of the Holloway Prisoners ’Banner (that was originally created at the Glasgow School of Art) and reinforcing the continuation of women’s action, the piece includes a series of nine fabric rectangles, each embroidered with the names of women who have acted with conviction. The women represented here are:
Sharon Shoesmith: Child protection activist
Jayne Senior: Exposed child sexual exploitation
Rosa Parks: Civil rights activist
Malala Yousafzi: Female education activist
Caroline Goode: Brought the murderers of Banaz Mahmood to justice
Rose Boland: Equal Pay activist
Jayaben Desai; Union representation activist
Gisele Pelicot: Activist for victims of sexual assault
Ellen Bosley: Fought for War Widows pensions
All elements are mounted onto a discarded tennis net, a structure that functions both physically and symbolically. The net acts as a grid, a boundary, and a site of tension—holding together disparate histories while referencing the sporting context and finished at the bottom with a tri-colour banner in the style of a Suffragette.
Through its materials, references, and methods, this work seeks to weave together acts of remembrance, resistance, and making—positioning the banner as both an artefact and an ongoing call to action.
The banner measures 68 cm in width and 136 cm at its longest. In using a colour palette of green, white, and purple, it references both the Wimbledon Women’s Social and Political Union and the visual language of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, bringing together two seemingly distinct histories through a shared place.
The construction ethos is central to the work: the banner has been made entirely from found fabrics. This approach grounds the piece in material histories that carry their own traces of use, memory, and care.
From a wide range of potential references within the brief, four key elements have been distilled and abstracted:
A hand-embroidered quotation by Rose Lamartine Yates forms the focal point of the piece: “Every woman must have the courage of her convictions and not slink back when she takes her first step.” This statement, made following her arrest at the Houses of Parliament in February 1909, is stitched onto a man’s handkerchief. The handkerchief itself operates as both material and metaphor, connecting to tennis player Evonne Goolagong, who wore her father’s handkerchief in remembrance after his sudden death. In this way, the object becomes a site of personal and political inheritance.
Flame motifs are at the background of the banner. These reference the attempted arson of the Wimbledon Championships in 1913, symbolising both destruction and renewal. The flames speak to the intensity of the suffragette struggle, while also representing a generative force—igniting future acts of resistance and giving the work its title.
In acknowledgement of the Holloway Prisoners ’Banner (that was originally created at the Glasgow School of Art) and reinforcing the continuation of women’s action, the piece includes a series of nine fabric rectangles, each embroidered with the names of women who have acted with conviction. The women represented here are:
Sharon Shoesmith: Child protection activist
Jayne Senior: Exposed child sexual exploitation
Rosa Parks: Civil rights activist
Malala Yousafzi: Female education activist
Caroline Goode: Brought the murderers of Banaz Mahmood to justice
Rose Boland: Equal Pay activist
Jayaben Desai; Union representation activist
Gisele Pelicot: Activist for victims of sexual assault
Ellen Bosley: Fought for War Widows pensions
All elements are mounted onto a discarded tennis net, a structure that functions both physically and symbolically. The net acts as a grid, a boundary, and a site of tension—holding together disparate histories while referencing the sporting context and finished at the bottom with a tri-colour banner in the style of a Suffragette.
Through its materials, references, and methods, this work seeks to weave together acts of remembrance, resistance, and making—positioning the banner as both an artefact and an ongoing call to action.