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Wednesday 24 Oct 2018

Seven days left to be part of iconic suffragette artwork at Birmingham New Street

Region & Route:

| North West & Central

The final countdown is underway to be part of a unique piece of art work to celebrate 100 years of women's suffrage.

Birmingham New Street will host the installation which celebrates 100 years since women first got the right to vote.

The ‘Face of Suffrage’ artwork will be a floor-based, 200 metre-square photo mosaic consisting of more than 3,500 images of females from across the West Midlands and beyond.

It will be made up of a combination of historical images of women involved in the suffragette movement from the West Midlands in the early 1900s and of pictures of females from today.

When viewed from above, the mosaic will show a leading face – still to be decided – from the suffrage movement in the West Midlands.

Photographs need to be submitted by midnight on 31 October 2018 to be considered for inclusion. For more information and to submit a picture go to www.thepeoplespicture.com/thefaceofsuffrage.  

The mosaic will be created by artist Helen Marshall, of the People’s Picture, who has installed similar projects across Britain marking other historic occasions.

Helen and her team will be at Birmingham New Street for the final time before the launch of the artwork between 10am and 1pm on Monday 29 October to meet passengers and gather photographs. 

Artist Helen Marshall said: “We have had so many photographs submitted to us already but there is still time to be included in this amazing project.

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to show such a huge art work in such an exciting public space to mark such an important time in history. I truly hope everybody will feel compelled to send in a photo and be part of this celebration."

Pat Power, Birmingham New Street station manager, said: “The West Midlands had a significant suffragette movement and hundreds of women travelled from Birmingham to London as part of the movement. New Street station is the perfect location for this thought-provoking piece of art.

“Equality is at the heart of our organisation and we actively encourage women to consider a career in the rail industry which will be both rewarding and exciting.”

The artwork will be on display from Thursday 15 November to Friday 14 December – the day which marks the 100th anniversary of women voting for the first time.

There will be events taking place in Birmingham during the display period to celebrate it and learn more about the suffragette movement.

Other supporters of the installation include CrossCountry, Grain (a Birmingham-based arts organisation), Arts Council England, LSE Women’s Library, Birmingham City University and Birmingham Hippodrome.

Birmingham New Street, which has 170,000 passengers every day, was chosen because it’s large concourse provides an ideal space to host the art work and the railway from Birmingham was important in transporting people to London in support of the movement.

For more information or to upload your photograph to be included in the mosaic visit www.thepeoplespicture.com/thefaceofsuffrage.