The Banners of Ed Hall: Art,Activism & Civic Action in Contemporary Britain

About

Join us for an event on the history, politics and stories behind banners in art and activism. Ed Hall has been making trade union, campaign and gallery banners since 1984 when he worked for Lambeth Council as it launched a political campaign against cuts in local authority spending. Since then, Ed has had many commissions including for the artist Jeremy Deller and notably making 20 banners for the Manchester International Festival of 2012. In this talk, Ed will explain how banners are only important because of the causes they represent and the people they involve. Ed will describe how banners were developed in the industrial heartlands of Britain, drawing on examples such as the wonderful banners made by artists of the suffragettes movement, the banner makers inspired by Walter Crane, and the current renaissance of banner making which includes contemporary artists incorporating banners in their work. Each banner has a story to tell so Ed will bring banners to the talk and have images of many more to display on screen. Ed Hall will be joined for a discussion on banner making with artist and researcher Ruth Flanagan. This is a joint event by Creative Manchester and the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology at the University of Manchester.