Banners / Collages
Who
All participants, divided into groups of 3 to 5 people
Source et inspiration
This exercise is inspired by “popular” artistic and activist practices that combine text and image. Banners and collages both come from practices often used by marginalized groups, making use of materials that are inexpensive and easily accessible.
Where
A clear open space
DURATION
At least 30 minutes for the construction
MATERIALS
Recycled or repurposed fabric, scissors, glue, scrap paper, images, stickers, glitter, tape, markers, etc.
EXERCISE DESCRIPTION
Banners and collages allow participants to give visual form to the collective thoughts and analysis that have emerged during a creative laboratory or workshop (i.e. through readings, images, debates). The banners and collages can be a first step in a path to collective action or consciousness raising. Each group is invited to choose a format (paper or fabric) and to fill it, shape it, draw on it, or (re)compose it, so as to (re)create a narrative using visual elements along with words, letters, cut-out images, shapes, patterns, textures, colors, etc. Each story is unique, sensitive, and communicates a different perspective. Activist posters, flyers, screen prints, and political graphics can all serve as resources and inspiration. It’s also possible to form an image bank of printed visuals related to the themes discussed.
TAKING IT FURTHER
The banners, usually made of fabric, are designed to take up space and are thus larger than the collages, i.e. two meters by one meter, carried at arm’s length. The banners serve to question the ways narratives circulate in shared or “public” spaces. Once the banners and/or collages are completed, it’s possible to use them in a performative procession.
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Philippe Artière, La banderole. Histoire d’un objet politique, éditions Autrement, 2020
Protext. When fabric becomes a manifesto (catalogue d’exposition), Nero, 2021.
Élise Olmedo, Cartographie sensible. Tracer une géographie du vécu par la recherche-création. Thèse de doctorat en géographie, Université Paris 1, 2015.
John Gorman, Banner Bright: an Illustrated History of the Banners of the British Trade Union Movement, Londres, Scorpion Publishing Ltd, 1986
Lotte Johnson; Amanda Pinath (ed.),Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, Prestel, 2024
Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage, (catalogue d’exposition), Marquand Books, Yale University Press, 2023
Manon Labry, Riot Grrrls. Chronique d’une révolution punk féministe, La Découverte, 2016
See Red – Women’s Workshop – Feminist Posters 1974-1990, Four Corners Books, 2016