House of Commons seeks Artist-in-Residence to commemorate suffragettes
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Undaunted by the furore over spending £250,000 on portraits of MPs, the House of Commons is seeking to appoint an Artist-in-Residence.
The successful candidate will be commissioned to produce an artwork to commemorate the suffragettes’ struggle to win the vote for women. He or she will initially be paid £7,000, with a further undisclosed sum upon completion of the work.
The Commons authorities were accused of extravagance last month when it emerged that Iain Duncan Smith, William Hague, Kenneth Clarke, Sir Menzies Campbell, Diane Abbott and Dennis Skinner were among prominent parliamentarians to have been immortalised in oils.
A £10,000 portrait of Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, has also been commissioned by the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art.
Now the committee is asking for “applications from fine art, design and craft practitioners to develop a proposal for a site-specific artwork to commemorate women’s suffrage”.
The residency is expected to be completed within six months and to involve 80 days’ work, at least half of which would be spent in Parliament.
The finished work is expected to be of “suitable artistic quality to enter the Parliamentary Art Collection” and to be permanently displayed at Westminster.
According to the committee’s brief, it will be “innovative, dynamic, ambitious and inspiring, and engage building users and visitors alike with the activities and achievements of campaigners for votes for women”.
The campaign for women’s votes traces its roots back more than 200 years, with suffragettes led by Emmeline Pankhurst turning to militant action in early 1900s.
Women aged over 30 were enfranchised in 1918 – the same year women were for the first time allowed to stand for Parliament – and the vote was extended ten years later to women aged over 21.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments