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Lovely to be at the opening of the @oldparcelsofficeartspace Open yesterday. And great to find other artists using text in their work, including @ellie_clewlow_studio and @k.drakeart I’ve also included a photo of Ethel by @maryannstevensartis
Just delivered ‘Inside Pages’ to @oldparcelsofficeartspace for the Open Exhibition next month. This piece raises awareness of the many conflicts in the world that don’t even make the inside pages of many newspapers. Thanks to @guar
Chuffed to see my quilt, Uprooted, in the new edition of The Quilter from @thequiltersguild it has recently been accepted into The Quilt Collection alongside a quilt by the esteemed @sara.impey More about the quilt on my blog , link in bio. #activ
Thank you to @normanreagallery for hanging my work so beautifully. And thank you for inviting me to join the panel discussion this evening. #displacement #textileart #activistart
Just spent a lovely day with @_artiyya @bradfordschoolofart We learned about the importance exciting work Attiya has been up to since graduating. Then she lead us through the process of making our first collage self portraits. It was great to see
Just delivered these three pieces to the @normanreagallery @uniofyork for their next exhibition 'Displacement' which opens on 27th November and then is open weekdays 9.00 - 17.00. I shall be joining a panel discussion on Monday 1st December 18.30. At
Today is Armistice Day, when we should be thinking about disarmament and no more wars. Instead the headlines over the last week or so have been about the conflict in Sudan, leading to genocide. Who is supplying the arms? There is evidence that some o
Responding to headlines about increased flooding risks, followed by UN warnings about the failure to stem CO2 emissions. Social justice includes climate justice. So as COP30 looms on the calendar this is a call for @keirstarmer to act on is words an
Trying out more ways of stitching words on a banner. JUSTICE is the key word at the centre of my manifesto and so appropriate for this trial. Stitching from the back allows a thicker thread to be used. It also means you have to get used to mirror wr
Articles 19 and 20 of the International Declaration of Human Rights make it clear that the right to peaceful protest is a human right. This government is following the last one in making it more and more difficult for citizens to peacefully protest.
Banners just shout

Banners just shout

Mary Whitehouse
Activism, Activist textile art, Protest

When I began to make banners I was inspired by three women.

Rebecca Solnit, who wrote that “To be effective, activists have to make strong, simple, urgent demands, at least some of the time – the kind of demands that fit on stickers and placards, the kind that can be shouted in the street by a thousand people.” (Solnit, 2016, p17)

Thalia Campbell, an artist and banner maker at Greenham Common “I don't think there'll ever be a time when you don't need banners despite all this modern technology. They are like your standard - they show who you are and that you're proud and I think that we'll always sort of need that.” (Triston, 2025, p141)

Aram Han Sifuentes, who I referenced in the first of the banner posts. She is a Korean-American who founded Protest Banner Lending Libraries to provide a way for people to have a voice.

However I realised that while I had taken on the challenge of responding to the headlines in this way, it was not sustainable for me. Although I continued to be enraged by the headlines and the articles below them, it felt futile to go on making banners, I was just shouting into the void.

Stand up to Racism Rally, York 5th October 2025

Banners have several functions, as well as a vehicle for venting feelings, they can also express solidarity with others who feel the same. However do they change people’s minds? I suspect they very rarely change the minds of an onlooker, although a mass of banners may show a government that there are many people with a particular point of view.

So how to make any kind of difference? Rather than change the world, maybe i could encourage myself and others to make our own communities a kinder, more welcoming place to live. In the face of all the hate and negative news reports, could I help build some hope? Could I help people feel a little warmer using the metaphor of a quilt?

Stop arming genocide

Stop arming genocide