We are delighted to share a second feature on Her Court in the July Wimbledon Tennis Special issue of Time & Leisure, highlighting the contemporary artists responding to Wimbledon’s remarkable suffrage history.
Presented by Young Masters in collaboration with Wimbledon Museum, Her Court brings contemporary artworks into dialogue with historical material connected to the campaign for women’s suffrage. The exhibition spans painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, textiles and film, revealing how artists working today are interpreting ideas of equality, resistance, representation and public voice.
Featured in Time & Leisure are works by Jo Holdsworth, Stephanie Jaffe Rose and Alastair Gordon, each approaching the history and visual language of the suffrage movement from a distinct contemporary perspective.
Helen Pankhurst CBE reflects in the interview on the particularly important relationship between art and the suffrage movement:
“Art was central to the suffrage movement and the suffragettes were brilliant at its use, at understanding the power of art, of imagery, of pomp and ceremony.”
As the granddaughter of artist and suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst, Helen also draws attention to the role artists played within the movement itself:
“As Sylvia’s granddaughter, I am particularly aware of how powerful art can be as she was the artist behind a lot of the suffragette designs. Art contributed to the movement then and it can contribute to our understanding and emotional engagement with the movement today.”
That relationship between historical visual culture and contemporary artistic practice lies at the heart of Her Court. The suffragettes understood the communicative power of colour, imagery and concise messaging, creating a visual identity that remains instantly recognisable more than a century later.
Reflecting on that legacy, Helen says:
“They were central, three colours with their symbolism and everybody knew what they are about. They also had three words ‘Votes for Women’ and another three words ‘Deeds not Words’.”
Through the work of contemporary artists, Her Court brings this history into the present, asking how images can carry ideas across generations and how art can create new ways of encountering stories that might otherwise remain hidden in archives.
As Helen Pankhurst concludes, what she hopes visitors will take away from the exhibition is:
“The connection between past and present.”
Read the full feature in Time & Leisure: “Discover Wimbledon’s Hidden Feminist History.”
https://timeandleisure.co.uk/things-to-do/discover-wimbledons-hidden-feminist-history/
Her Court is presented by Young Masters at Wimbledon Museum, bringing together contemporary art and the museum’s extraordinary suffrage collection.
