I've found the news and social media coverage of the far right, racist riots difficult to cope with in the last couple of weeks. This behaviour is contrary to everything I stand for and value, and is the primary reason I became an activist - in response to the hate against migrants and refugees at the time of the 2016 EU referendum. Since then I have met and worked with so many wonderful humans who have experience of migration and seeking asylum and reading their emotional responses to the recent wave of race-based attacks has deeply troubled me. I have cried a lot reading their messages expressing their fear and feelings of devastation, I have been struggling to sleep and noticed my hands have been shaking despite the fact that I am not the victim of this abuse. I just hate with every fibre of my being the actions of these fate-filled people, mobilised by influencers who are deovoid of humanity and weaponised by morally bankrupt politicans. I have been doing my best to check in with my migrant friends and offer kind and supportive words, but I have otherwise felt powerless to help. So, when the International Women in Sheffield WhatsApp community suggested we attend the Stand Up to Racism demonstration outside City Hall and organised a placard and banner-making workshop - I jumped at the chance to help.
My dear friend Lora organised the 4-hour workshop, but since she is not a visual artist, she asked if I could help with the banner design. So, I could focus on this task during the workshop, I made my placard beforehand at home. Double-sided, of course...
I decided to have one side focussing on the hate and the other on love. A horror-movie style aesthetic seemed appropriate for the message "THEIR HATE IS WORTH NOTHING". I wanted to emphasise that this destructive behaviour is of benefit to nobody (including the fascists themselves) and only causes damage and pain to everyone involved.
For the other side, I wanted to make something more creative, soft and feminine to emphasise the message "LOVE ALWAYS WINS". I had some sticky-back, gold metalic paper with a honeycomb pattern - I really love this metaphor of a beehive and a community coming together to build something greater than themselves. I decided to write the lettering in pastel coloured buttons which were very girly but I love the tactile element and the gentle impression of care which they gave. I stuck them on with superglue as I didn't have any other glue to hand, which got a bit messy (I got it all over my hands) and some blobs ended up on the gold background but they weren't too noticeable to ruin the placard.
At the workshop, the following day, I was tasked with making sure the banner would be neat. I asked Lora what materials she needed - paint, paintbrushes and wood, which I happened to have in abundance, thanks to my Dad's DIY-ing.
We used some Czech fabric with a beautiful flower pattern, from Lora's "Becoming Czech" project - to emphasise the domestic vibe. I got to work cutting the wood and fabric to size and stapling (there wasn't time time for sewing) the hems and pockets for the wood, whilst the group collectively decided on the messaging. They decided on "INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF SHEFFIELD AGAINST RACISM" - so, I figured out how to space the words evenly across the fabric, and since we didn't have a ruler, used bits of cardboard and my judgement to sketch out the letter in pencil for the others to paint over.
We worked so well as a team - I am really proud of everyone and felt really priveliged to be able to support this collective effort.
Whilst they were painting the letters, I got to work on making a little flag out of a cut-off from the fabric. We decided to represent the International Women in Sheffield community with a pink flower and breasts.
Some of the other women made placards and felt cut-outs which we attached to the top of the banner - these were super cute and I especially loved the little bottle of Henderson's Relish to emphasise the Sheffield community.
We let the banner dry over night and came back the next day to collect it before the demonstration.
The demonstration outside the city hall was well attended, despite the rain.
We positioned ourselves on the steps alongside the other groups who had brought banners.
I especially loved the Sheffield City of Sanctuary's banner.
Livia made the best placard for her husband "I <3 MY MIGRANT WIFE" and my friend Aso, an Asylum Seeker from Iran also joined us with his placard "DIGNITY NOT DETENTION" - I am hoping he will be part of my research project into migrant identities.
It was so restorative to be able to come together in this peaceful, creative, collective effort - I just hope that the hate we were opposing retreats back under the rock where it belongs now.
Photo by Tim Dennell
Comments