National Museums Liverpool is marking International Women’s Day (Thursday 8 March) with a programme of free exhibitions and events on the day and the following weekend (Saturday 10 and 11 March).
Through exhibitions, talks, workshops and poetry there are a variety of ways for everyone to get involved and celebrate this important date.
Clik here to view.
‘Taking Liberties’ at Museum of Liverpool
Museum of Liverpool
DISPLAY: Taking Liberties
Throughout 2018
The 1918 Club is a discussion forum for women, established by Eleanor Rathbone in 1918, that meets regularly in Liverpool. The group created the display, working with objects relating to women’s suffrage from the Museum’s collections.
After viewing the objects and choosing which ones would best illustrate the story, participants then wrote labels to explain why these objects were important and what they tell us about the Liverpool campaign to give women the right to vote.
This display also includes oral history recordings of a number of Suffragettes telling their experiences first-hand.
EVENT: International Women’s Day – tour
8 March
1pm and 3pm
Join our visitor host for a tour focusing on the inspirational women featured in the Museum of Liverpool.
EVENT: International Women’s Day – activities
10 March
1-4pm
Join the Women’s Institute and celebrate International Women’s Day in the year that marks 100 years since some women were first given the vote.
In the atrium make a rosette and learn all about the Women’s Institute, then explore the galleries to hear the stories of inspirational Liverpool women.
EVENT: 150 years of union women
10 March
1-3pm
150 years ago on 2 June 1868, the Trades Union Congress was formed at the Mechanics Institute in Manchester. Women in the North West have always played a vital and inspirational part in shaping trades unions, so on the anniversary of the TUC and 100 years after some women first achieved the vote, this is celebration of some of the Liverpool women who have played their part in changing the world of work.
The event will hear from key speakers and women union campaigners sharing their experiences of organising Merseyside’s women today:
• 1pm Jeannie Mole talk
• 1.40pm refreshments
• 2pm Mary Bamber talk
• 2.30pm Organising Merseyside’s women workers today
• 3pm finish
Clik here to view.
‘Lubaina Himid: Meticulous Observations and Naming the Money’ at Walker Art Gallery until 18 March. Image © Gareth Jones
Walker Art Gallery
EXHIBITION: Slaves Of Fashion: New Works by The Singh Twins
Until 20 May 2018
‘Slaves of Fashion: New Works by The Singh Twins’ explores the history of Indian textiles, Empire, enslavement and luxury consumerism, and the contemporary relevance of these issues in the world today.
Focusing on the relationship between Britain and India, hidden details of Europe’s colonial past and its legacies are uncovered, including current debates around ethical trade and responsible consumerism. Also central to that history are women, and the hidden histories of the female figures depicted in the artworks.
EXHIBITION: Lubaina Himid: Meticulous Observations and Naming the Money
Until 18 March 2018
A powerful exhibition by the 2017 Turner Prize winner, ‘Lubaina Himid: Meticulous Observations and Naming the Money’ features works selected by Lubaina from the Arts Council Collection, along with 20 figures from her major installation, Naming the Money.
The pieces selected by Lubaina are all by women artists, and occupy one room within the gallery. At the centre of this display is her 1987 series of watercolour drawings, ‘Scenes from the life of Toussaint L’Overture’, about the former slave who led the Haitian revolution.
Lubaina Himid was awarded the Turner Prize in 2017, the first Black female artist to have won.
Clik here to view.
‘Model Image’ at Lady Lever Art Gallery until 15 April Image © Gareth Jones
Lady Lever Art Gallery
EXHIBITION: Model Image
Until 15 April
The elegance and glamour of the 1950s is captured in this exhibition exploring the life of one of the top British models of the era, Liverpool-born June Duncan.
June’s modelling career was an exhilarating whirl of fashion shoots, front covers and haute couture. The exhibition encapsulates June’s rise from a child actor on stage at Liverpool’s Empire and Playhouse theatres, to wartime service in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRENS) to cover girl.
Her story is told through stunning prints by some of the most high-profile photographers of the decade. The exhibition also features effortlessly stylish 1950s evening dresses and accessories from National Museums Liverpool’s decorative arts collection.
Clik here to view.
Printing with Paper Moon Print Studio
International Slavery Museum
EVENT: Coretta Scott King
8 March
3-4.15pm
Join poetess Empress-jai in honoring and acknowledging the contribution of Coretta Scott King, the stalwart woman of courage who stood firm alongside her husband, Dr Martin Luther King, during the Civil Rights Movement.
Coretta Scott King “walked the walk” with commitment and zeal. In good times and bad she was the rock behind the mountain who laboured to make the King Dream a reality, leaving us a lasting legacy for generations to come.
EVENT: Women of the revolution
10 March 1-4pm
Join artists from Paper Moon Print Studio to screenprint a beautiful tote bag, celebrating brave and inspirational women activists who campaigned for civil rights.
You will also have the chance to get hands on with objects from the Museum’s collections and learn more about fierce women leaders of the British and American civil rights movements.
EVENT: Sewn heroines
10 March
1-4pm
Join textiles artist Seleena Daye to learn more about inspirational female abolitionists who fought to end the transatlantic slave trade; get hands on with objects from the Museum’s abolition collection, and create a banner to commemorate fierce, female freedom fighters.
This workshop is suitable for visitors age 16 and over.
Book your free place on this workshop here.
Clik here to view.
Merseyside Maritime Museum © Pete Carr
Merseyside Maritime Museum
EVENT: Black women sailors in history
11 March
2.30-3.30
Disguised in trousers, ‘William Brown’, a young woman from Grenada, was in 1815 the navy’s first and only known Black female sailor. Using many images, Dr Jo Stanley tells the story of ‘William’ and her successors. They include Belinda Bennett, who in 2016 became the UK’s first Black woman cruiseship ‘master’.
Speaker Dr Jo Stanley is the author of ‘From Cabin ‘Boys’ to Captains: 250 years of women at sea’.