We teamed up with the UCLan SU History Society and UCLan SU Feminists for a trip to the People’s History Museum in Manchester on 15th March 2017, where students took part in a tour and workshop on the subject of protest art.
We kicked the session off with a tour around the museum led by Mitch, the artist leading our workshop, to learn about the history of protest art that would inspire our session later that afternoon.
The museum houses a large collection of historical trade union and political banners in all shapes and sizes. In fact, it is one of the largest collections of these types of banners in the world. They were used for many worthy causes such as protest demonstrations for LGBT rights. They were also used by trade unions, and we even spotted a banner with a Preston connection, which was very exciting!
The museum also houses a conservation studio where staff can preserve and study the museum collection. If you visit the museum (which we recommend that you do!) you can see the textile conservators at work.
After our tour we took part in a workshops session where we could design and make our own protest art. We choose the type of art we wanted to create and chose protest areas that were close to our hearts. Buttons were polular with our group and one student created a brilliant placard.
As you can see our group got really creative- it’s great to see such a variety of ideas!
It was a busy afternoon but worth it as we not only discovered a great deal about the history of protest art but were also able to flex our creative muscles. Thank you to People’s History Museum!
UCLan Through the Ages 