Today (August 26) marks Women’s Equality Day, which commemorates 101 years since women were given the right to vote in the US constitution. To coincide with the landmark day in women’s history, the Pankhurst Centre has officially opened in Manchester.
At the heart of the Centre lies At Home with the Pankhurst Family. The exhibition has been meticulously designed by Mather & Co, and encapsulates the story of Emily Pankhurst and her family through their lives at 62 Nelson Street in the early 20th century.
Mather & Co’s reimagined three living spaces in the home to represent the family as they commenced Women’s Suffragette Movement, which took off and spread to the rest of the country.
The exhibition also represents the works of the Pankhurst Centre today, using designs inspired by the methods of agitation used at the time, such as the chalk writing on pavements and walls, painting, smashing windows using domestic items to create a fresh new visual style for the space that represents the activists then and the organisation now.
The first room in the exhibition provides a modern take on the classic Edwardian wallpaper. Dark, chalk-filled walls infer the ‘ideal’ domestic home in a modern and surprising way, using the Suffragettes’ DIY movement and methods of agitation to tell their history.
Mather & Co
In the second room, an emotional immersive show immerses guests at the centre of the debate on women’s rights, displaying the many angles to the story to provoke visitors to have their own views.
The last space forms the centrepiece of the Pankhurst’s family home.
This is the room where the first meeting of the WSPU took place, founding the organisation which would become notorious for their militancy and determination to win women the right to vote.
The project was brought to life using funding from AIM Biffa Award History Makers, part of the Landfill Communities Fund.
Commenting, Sarah Clarke, Managing Director of Mather & Co said: “We are very proud that The Pankhurst Centre acknowledged the strong female presence in our company at all levels of the business – it feels very empowering for women to be telling the story of women.
Continuing: “With such a pivotal story in women’s history, to be able to tell the Pankhurst’s and the WSPU’s story has been an absolute privilege. The exhibition is an inspiring and moving experience that shares a unique insight into the lives of the family.”
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Elsewhere, Mather & Co is set to lead exhibition design at transformed Inverness Castle.
