Suffrage in Stitches

 I had the privilege of participating in the Suffrage in Stitches Project. Over 35,000 people have seen the exhibition at the Wellington museum. A powerful exhibition. It is important to remember that we have had the right to vote for over 125 years. Only in 1984, did all women get the right to vote in the USA. 

300 metres long, the stitched panels match the length of the original NZ Suffrage petition and consists of 546 individually designed and stitched fabric panels (reflecting the number of pages in the petition). They tell the stories of those who signed the petition or those relatives who have influenced the 546 makers. The work includes the names of the 546 women and over 27,000 hand-stitched marks, one for each signature on the petition, along with multiple surface decoration techniques.

My assigned sheet, #57, and signatory Mary Isobel Fraser. All the panels can be seen here. https://suffrageinstitchesnz.tumblr.com/search/ruth+mcmonagle

An independent educated woman, who travelled to exotic lands of her time, resonated with me, and I admire what she tried to achieve for New Zealand women, within the social constraints of the time that she lived,1863 – 1942.

Mary Isobel Fraser was an advocate for female education and was committed to a progressive education in the schools where she was Principal. She was an advocate of the benefits of physical exercise, and added basketball, tennis, hockey, cricket and gymnastics, as well as art and music, to the curriculum of her Girls’ Colleges.

In 1904, Mary Isobel Fraser brought back the seed of Actinidia deliciosa from her visit to China.  From these seeds, the New Zealand Kiwifruit industry developed.

Kiwifruit are predominant in my panel, reflecting their importance, and the 46  hand stitches represent the other signatories of Page 57, as well as the seeds of the influence of all these women on the history of New Zealand, and the fabric of society that we now enjoy.

The buttonhole stitch around Mary Isobel’s portrait is a stitch I learnt from my grandmother, who learnt it from her mother, – who was unregistered at birth, because she was a girl child.

Behind the interwoven ribbons, are all the signatories of Page 57, referencing the weaving of our interrelationships, and all the things we quietly share with each other, and accept as being part of the community, and New Zealand as a whole.