Helen Cammock, Marysia Lewandowska, Olivia Plender & Hester Reeve, Eileen Simpson & Ben White - Out of the Archives: New art inspired by The Women’s Library

Out of the Archives: New art inspired by The Women's Library

Out of the Archives is The Women’s Library's first group exhibition showcasing four artists’ work inspired by items in the collections. Working across a range of media, artists Helen Cammock, Marysia Lewandowska, Olivia Plender & Hester Reeve, Eileen Simpson and Ben White have created works drawing on their research, they have focused on specific cultural, social and politciall events including women’s migration to South Africa in the late 19th century; militant suffragettes’ radical relationship to art and representation; The Brilliant and the Dark (1969), an operatic sequence for women’s voices which marked a folk revival; and the 1980s Greenham Common Women’s Peace Campaign.

Related event: Live Performance, September 23, 7pm

The Brilliant & The Dark is an opera for women’s voices that looks at history through the eyes of the crusaders’ wives, plague stricken women, witch hunters and war workers. It was first performed by 1,000 women volunteers in 1969. Join this special live event with artists Eileen Simpson & Ben White (Open Music Archive) as they present their re-interpretation of this musical adventure in collaboration with their all-women choir Gaggle. £6 / £4 concessions)