Vote 100: best events for the suffragette centenary
Who were the real people who fought for the women's right to vote? And what would they make of the world we live in today? In 2018, London is celebrating women's suffrage with parliament's Vote100 campaign and with commemorations across the city.
We'll celebrate the centenary of The Representation of the People Act on 6 February this year. In 1918 certain women aged over 30 were permitted at the ballot. Younger women were only allowed a year later, in 1919.
For the original suffragette movement it was a long fight, a vicious, shocking fight, with force feedings and tramplings and railings and hand-stitched sashes. But it was also a modern movement. And anyone with a pussyhat or a marker pen banner owes these early pioneers for their right to a voice.
Come together to see the art, hear the voices and discuss the legacies of suffragette protesters in this special centenary year of British women's right to vote.
'Avian Calamity'
British artist Heather Philipson (who has also designed Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth installation for 2020) is creating an exciting 80-metre art installation at a disused station platform for TfL's 'Art on the Underground' project, which this year features only female artists. Head to Gloucester Road tube station to see her ambitious, egg-themed sculpture described by the TfL as a piece of 'avian calamity'. With her track record for creating the surreal and the bold, this is a must-visit.