NEWS
Sister Suffragette
Rowena McIntosh explores some of the events taking place to mark 100 years since the fi rst women in the United Kingdom were given the right to vote
COMING UP
EDINBURGH MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL The majesty of mountains is captured on i lm in a series of screenings, lectures and exhibitions. Climbing, skiing, mountain biking and exploration are represented, and guest speakers include Mark Beaumont, Sarah Outen, Pete Whittaker and Kelly Cordes. George Square Lecture Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 3 & Sun 4 Feb.
CHEESE FEST A brie-ly welcome addition to Scotland’s festival calendar. The inaugural event showcases a selection of traders offering the best in cheese and street food plus live music and a bar. Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, Sat 10 & Sun 11 Feb. GET CREATIVE FESTIVAL A merger between the Get Creative Weekend and the Voluntary Arts Festival, encouraging people to come together and be creative in their local community. Various venues, Scotland, Sat 17–Sun 25 Mar.
PUPPET ANIMATION FESTIVAL The UK’s largest and longest established annual performing arts event for children pulls some strings to present a feast of puppet-based entertainment throughout Scotland. Various venues, Scotland, Sun 25 Mar–Sun 15 Apr. COUNTERFLOWS A festival of underground, experimental and international music, with artists from around the world collaborating with homegrown talent. Various venues, Glasgow, Thu 5–Sun 8 Apr.
GLASGOW INTERNATIONAL The two-yearly festival of visual art returns with more than 45 group shows and 35 solo exhibitions. There are major new commissions and projects by Kapwani Kiwanga, Linder and Tai Shani, and Nadia Myre; solo exhibitions by international artists including Mark Leckey, Lubaina Himid and Duggie Fields; and a major group exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art. Various venues, Glasgow, Fri 20 Apr–Mon 7 May.
F ebruary 2018 marks the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, where, for the i rst time, some women were granted the right to vote in the United Kingdom. Just some women, mind you – you still had to be over 30 and meet certain stipulations. While it wasn’t equal yet (men only had to be 21) it was a massive step forward and allowed 8.4 million women the opportunity to vote. The act allowing women to be elected to Parliament was passed the following year.
Across Scotland, events are taking place to commemorate the anniversary. BBC Scotland and 14–18 NOW, the UK’s ofi cial arts programme for the First World War centenary, have commissioned Scottish artist Rachel Maclean to create a new feature i lm to mark the milestone. Set in brutalist icon St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross, Make Me Up is part horror, part comedy and is inspired by suffragette protest, including the 1914 attack by Mary Richardson on Velázquez painting, ‘The Rokeby Venus’ (she slashed it with a meat cleaver). The i lm depicts a dystopia where a group of women are trapped in a reality TV-style competition, where compliance and attractiveness are key, and voting is
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not a liberation but a harsh judgement the contestants must face. Make Me Up is screened throughout the UK and then broadcast by the BBC in 2018. Elsewhere, Nicola Wright and Lea Taylor present a piece of storytelling specii cally written to mark the centenary, mixing historical facts with prose in The Purple, White & Green: The Story of the Scottish Suffragettes (Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, Tue 6 Feb). Glasgow Women’s Library are planning events throughout the year, including Caroline Phillips: Scottish Suffragette and Journalist (Sat 10 Mar), a talk which provides a unique insight into the suffrage campaign through the correspondence of Phillips, leader of the Aberdeen suffragettes from 1907–1909. And as part of Aye Write! cartoonist Kate Charlesworth and Nicola Streeten, author of The Inking Woman, discuss history, cartooning, feminism and the celebration of female artists in Deeds not Words: 100 Years of Voting, Thinking, Drawing Women (Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Sun 25 Mar).
For more events marking the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, visit list. co.uk