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The Face of Suffrage

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About this project

The ‘Face of Suffrage’ artwork, a floor-based, 200 metre-square photo mosaic, was made up of more than 3,700 images of females from across the West Midlands and beyond. When viewed from above, it showed Hilda Burkitt, a leading face from the suffrage movement in the West Midlands.  A project by The People’s Picture, co-produced by GRAIN, with the support of Network Rail, Arts Council England, CrossCountry Rail and Heritage Lottery Fund made possible by National lottery players. 

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3,732 photos collected

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Artwork

The artwork was made up of a combination of historical pictures of women involved in the suffragette movement from the West Midlands in the early 1900s and of females today using photographs submitted by the public be part of the commemoration. In 1918, the Representation of the People Act gave some British women the right to vote and stand for public office for the first time. One hundred years on, we invited women and girls across the region and beyond to mark this historic moment.

In the news

Red Eye | 2018

'Birmingham New Street is to host a unique art installation '

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https://grainphotographyhub.co.uk/

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“She sits within a prison cell
Despised and splendid, great, defamed.
Shame close about her, and with all
Shameless and unashamed”.

Hilda Burkitt written in prison: Winson Green 1909 (1 month) and Holloway March 1912 (four months). The Face of Suffrage celebrates the centenary of women over 30 gaining the right to vote in the UK and is composed of thousands of photographs tessellated to create a giant portrait of suffragist Hilda Burkitt (1876-1955).

Miranda Gavin | The Face of Suffrage

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“Popular, faces are featured as the emblems of our time following in the footsteps of historic mosaics that often included famous figures from history and mythology as well as lesser-known faces as my ethos is about inclusivity. One of our latest projects is ‘The Face of Suffrage’ at Birmingham New Street. It is a floor-based, 200 metre-square photo mosaic revealing the face of a suffragette who has a ‘daring and brave’ story to tell. It is made up of more than 3,700 crowd-sourced photos and selfies of inspirational women and girls (who identify as female or non-binary), combined with hundreds of historical images drawn from archives and libraries and focused on women’s suffrage in the early 1900’s. The artwork commemorates 100 years of women’s right to vote and has a local and national reach from the West Midlands and beyond. The final portrait is of Hilda Burkitt (1876-1955)”.

Helen Marshall | Artist