Their fearlessness, devotion and indomitable spirit saw them become leading lights in the historic struggle for women’s rights.
Now an illuminating new artwork will bring local Suffragette’s Leonora Cohen and Mary Gawthorpe back to life in modern day Leeds and reveal more about the real women behind their extraordinary stories.
At the hugely-anticipated Light Night Leeds, the exterior of the 250 year-old Leeds Library will be the setting for a poignant, specially-commissioned projection entitled A Certain Amount of Courage.
Using archive material and images gathered from collections including those at Leeds City Museum, Abbey House Museum and Leeds Central Library, artist Karen Monid of The Projection Studio has created an intimate digital portrait of two very different women, united by their unshakeable belief in a common purpose.
A fiercely militant campaigner, in 1911 Leonora Cohen famously threw a rock at the window of a government building and was arrested and jailed before again being imprisoned in 1913, this time for hurling an iron bar through a showcase at the Tower of London.
Her fellow Suffragette Mary Gawthorpe, who features in Abbey House Museum’s current A Woman’s Place? exhibition, was a regular speaker at huge national events, including a rally in London’s Hyde Park in 1908 in front of more than 200,000 people.
Their exploits have particular relevance with this year’s Light Night, which takes place on October 4 and 5 and has the theme of progress and innovation, with installations exploring important moments in history which have been a catalyst for social change.
For more details, visit: https://whatson.leeds.gov.uk/lightnight or follow @LightNightLeeds on Twitter
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