Exhibiting Next: The comrades they were brave – we saluted you! 17 March – 10 April 2022

Group exhibition, curated by artist curator Cecilia Sjoholm. In homage to Edith Garrud, who in 1909, began training the suffragettes in self-defence and established ‘The Bodyguard Unit’ (in the press also referred to The Amazons or The Suffrajitsu) – a 30-strong group dedicated to protecting Mrs Pankhurst and other leaders of the movement from arrest and assault, as well as those released under the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’. Their tactics were not purely combative, they also used decoys, disguise and other methods of escape.

Embracing the positive aspects that coming together as a group can bring, and also examining how individuals position themselves in relation to society at large. Are we someone who challenges openly in the public, are we escape artists operating at the margins of collective society, or do we use smokescreens and camouflage for survival? The gallery rooms are the book cover that will protect the stories inside – a boundless place paying homage to active and passive resistance.

Gas Hood will be making an appearance.

Participating artists:
Deborah Tchoudjinoff
Garth Gratrix
Hatty Buchanan
Iain Hales
Gillian Knipe
Laura Moreton-Griffiths
Cecilia Sjoholm

#storytelling #resistance #rebellion #suffragettes #defience #abstractart #videoart #vr

The exhibition will take place in 17 March to 10 April 2022 at gallery 44GRS in Bloomsbury, London.

44 Great Russell Street
WC1B 3PA
(Opposite the British Museum)