Museum label, critique: of the poster by Suffrage Atelier Louise R. Jacobs ," The Appeal of Womanhood, We want the vote to stop the white slave traffic" ( AD 1912)

Abstract or description

As Editorial panel member of "Represent! Voices 100 years On" Fanthome contributed in the selection and commentary of artefacts. The poster," The Appeal of Womanhood, We want the vote to stop the white slave traffic" ( AD 1912) was chosen by PHM as a pro-sufferage poster. Fanthome added a commentary that questions the depiction of heroic womanhood. The commentary ask the museum visitor to think critically beyond a saviour narrative. The text suggests that we may question the visual presentation of a significantly white female as heroic, against the background of a group of women presented as abject by comparison.

Item Type:	Artefact
Additional Information:	Brief Description Responding to a call from the People’s History Museum (PHM) in Manchester in 2017, for community groups to form the editorial panel of “Represent! 100 Years On”, Fanthome partnered with PHM and Safety4Sisters with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) women’s group, with the objective that participants author contributions to the exhibition. Research Statement The research aimed to discover what an inclusive and representative community arts and heritage practice requires as a commitment from community groups, museum, and researcher. The methodology combines activist, feminist principles and critical attention to participatory, co-production principles: questioning whether participation was possible, or would benefit the group in their situation of emergency and crisis, additionally; what might the partners learn from this research activity? Critical attention was given to the impact and effects of power and inequality on the NRPF group, where the priorities of the museum and researcher claimed authority, or precedence. Knowledge production was important throughout this process: PHM suggested changes to exhibition content, which Safety4Sisters and researcher successfully argued against; the white plinth, however, was retained by the museum despite objection, raising questions regarding co-curation that are ongoing (SITZIA 2018). The research comes out of the process of engagement in which the People’s History Museum both heard and misheard the women’s narratives and the suggestions of the researcher in installing work. Significantly, the transcription and audio recording for their installation begins, “If you wear my shoes then you’ll know.” This differs, however, from the installation label, which reads “If you were in my shoes then you’ll know it”. The “shoe” narratives are stories of individual women, voiced by an actress, which the migrant women’s group would have preferred to have voiced themselves. On several visits to the exhibition the recording was either turned off, or barely audible, which meant that the collection of shoes was not contextualized by the audio recording. The process of voice and listening have a significance, questioning the extent to which the museum can hear and facilitate the voice of the communities with whom they are engaged. The NRPF women’s group could not have taken part without material support from the Safety4Sisters’ organisation, who agreed the partnership with the museum. Directors at PHM have discussed additional funding to secure future participation, inviting the group to contribute to their next exhibition, Migrant Identities for 2020. Role of Researcher The researcher held several roles: PHM editorial panel member for the larger exhibition project; contributing to the presentation of artefacts; facilitating women with NRPF in deciding the form of their contribution; working with Safety4Sisters and PHM to ensure the confidentiality and security of the group. Consideration of these roles formed a significant aspect of this research.
Faculty:	School of Creative Arts and Engineering > Art and Design
Event Location:	People's History Museum Manchester
Depositing User:	Lynne FANTHOME
Date Deposited:	14 Jan 2019 11:29
Last Modified:	24 Feb 2023 13:53
Related URLs:	http://phm.org.uk/
URI:	https://eprints.staffs.ac.uk/id/eprint/5089

Item Type:

Artefact

Additional Information:

Brief Description Responding to a call from the People’s History Museum (PHM) in Manchester in 2017, for community groups to form the editorial panel of “Represent! 100 Years On”, Fanthome partnered with PHM and Safety4Sisters with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) women’s group, with the objective that participants author contributions to the exhibition. Research Statement The research aimed to discover what an inclusive and representative community arts and heritage practice requires as a commitment from community groups, museum, and researcher. The methodology combines activist, feminist principles and critical attention to participatory, co-production principles: questioning whether participation was possible, or would benefit the group in their situation of emergency and crisis, additionally; what might the partners learn from this research activity? Critical attention was given to the impact and effects of power and inequality on the NRPF group, where the priorities of the museum and researcher claimed authority, or precedence. Knowledge production was important throughout this process: PHM suggested changes to exhibition content, which Safety4Sisters and researcher successfully argued against; the white plinth, however, was retained by the museum despite objection, raising questions regarding co-curation that are ongoing (SITZIA 2018). The research comes out of the process of engagement in which the People’s History Museum both heard and misheard the women’s narratives and the suggestions of the researcher in installing work. Significantly, the transcription and audio recording for their installation begins, “If you wear my shoes then you’ll know.” This differs, however, from the installation label, which reads “If you were in my shoes then you’ll know it”. The “shoe” narratives are stories of individual women, voiced by an actress, which the migrant women’s group would have preferred to have voiced themselves. On several visits to the exhibition the recording was either turned off, or barely audible, which meant that the collection of shoes was not contextualized by the audio recording. The process of voice and listening have a significance, questioning the extent to which the museum can hear and facilitate the voice of the communities with whom they are engaged. The NRPF women’s group could not have taken part without material support from the Safety4Sisters’ organisation, who agreed the partnership with the museum. Directors at PHM have discussed additional funding to secure future participation, inviting the group to contribute to their next exhibition, Migrant Identities for 2020. Role of Researcher The researcher held several roles: PHM editorial panel member for the larger exhibition project; contributing to the presentation of artefacts; facilitating women with NRPF in deciding the form of their contribution; working with Safety4Sisters and PHM to ensure the confidentiality and security of the group. Consideration of these roles formed a significant aspect of this research.

Faculty:

School of Creative Arts and Engineering > Art and Design

Event Location:

People's History Museum Manchester

Depositing User:

Lynne FANTHOME

Date Deposited:

14 Jan 2019 11:29

Last Modified:

24 Feb 2023 13:53

Related URLs: