Manchester Jewellers Network present their new exhibition for 2009, “Articles of Hope, Adornments for Justice” a collection of body adornments based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Why Campaign Jewellery?

In Manchester, on the 10th of October 1903 the Women's Social and Political Union, was founded at the family home of Emmeline and Christable Pankhurst. Frustrated by the ineffectual tactics of the National Union of Women's Suffragette Societies to lobby for the female vote, the new women-only organisation favoured a more militant approach. Incited by their motto: “Deeds, not words,” the direct action of mass rallies, chaining themselves to railings and willful damage to property led to the incarceration of women suffragettes. Those imprisoned were awarded medals to commemorate their service to the cause. The medals engraved with the recipient's name and dated with the date of their hunger strike or force feeding, imitated those of military honour and were attached to a ribbon of purple, white and green. Adopted in 1908 by the WSPU to symbolize freedom, dignity, purity and hope, women everywhere were exhorted to “wear the colours” in support of the movement. Button Badges were produced in large numbers. Some bearing the portrait of Christable and Emmeline Pankhurst sold for just a penny. They raised campaign funds and elevated the profile of suffragette leaders.

In I914 when the Great War broke out Moina Bell Micheal was in Europe. After briefly serving on the American Committee to aid stranded tourists, she returned to America, with first hand knowledge of some of the horrors of war. Later inspired by John McCrae's poem “In Flanders Fields”, which credits the poppy flower as marking the graves of the fallen, Michael resolved to wear a red silk poppy in remembrance of those who had given their lives in the fight for freedom and peace. By March of 1919 Michael's campaign saw the red poppy officially launched as a symbol of tribute and support for war veterans.

In 1933 the Co-operative Women's Guild in support of the No More War Movement produced the first white poppies to be worn on Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day. The following year with the support of the Peace Pledge Union, the white poppy was distributed as a symbol of peace, a public declaration against war and for the promotion of non-violent settlement of international disputes. Today both the red and white lapel poppies serve as symbols of remembrance for “all victims of war,” existing as fund-raisers for the serving communites and civilians alike, affected by conflict.

On the Easter weekend of March 1958 the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament's CND symbol, designed by Gerald Holtom, entered the public domain. Carried aloft as placards on a protest march from London to Aldermaston, home of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, the symbol was also reproduced in badge form. Initially made by Eric Austin of Kensington CND, the earliest versions were made of fired pottery. These were distributed with a note explaining that in the tragic event of a nuclear war the ceramic badges would be among the few remaining artifacts to withstand a nuclear inferno.

In recent times the White Band was adopted as the international symbol for the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, a global alliance based in more than 100 countries fighting for an end to poverty and inequality. In 2005 the white band became the vehicle of the Make Poverty History Campaign. Raising money for a worthy cause the band was available as a wristband, armband, and headband or lapel badge.

All these campaigns have in some way fought for the common rights, freedom and dignity of man through the medium of body adornment. Jewellery, now so often the domain of frivolous decoration through mass production, seldom is imbibed with such meaning or significance. Campaign jewellery however, maintains a call for action on matters of social importance. “Jewellery with a Conscience” carries marks of allegiance: social, religious or ethical and political persuasions for the wearer but also seeks to provoke, challenge and educate the viewer.

With this in mind Manchester Jewellers Network, inspired by the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 2008, present their new exhibition “Articles of Hope, Adornments for Justice.” Through the medium of Art Jewellery eleven members have interpreted eleven Articles from the UDHR to create unusual, individual and often, personal jewellery pieces. Here material value is secondary to design and creativity. The focus of meaning and symbolism through carefully chosen medium serves the concept and intention to illicit a response. Fundamental themes and issues addressed in the work include freedom of choice, hunger, industrial disease, and access to medicine, the female right to vote, slavery, knife crime and China's rule over Tibet.

We invite you, the viewer, to approach with an open mind and ask that you might question and consider what kind of adornment of allegiance you would wear? What human right would you seek to defend? Our “Campaign Jewellery” exhibition carries no specific vehicle through which to raise funds or donate to a worthy cause but we would like to signpost the viewer to the work of the many Human Rights organizations whose principle purpose is to fight for a freer and fairer world. We urge you to support them and share in our collective responsibility to protect the human in making justice, fairness, freedom and truth a reality.

Rowena Golton, Concept Author