Join Sarah recounting her exploration of historical archives and newspaper records to enable her to bring forgotten voices back to life. Listen to how she transformed what she discovered into memorable and tangible human narratives.
Sarah created an exhibition at the Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery that aimed to bring to life the contribution that the Portsmouth’s Suffragists and Suffragettes had on gaining equal voting rights. There are limited original artefacts that survive from the Portsmouth suffragists. What exists in the archives, a few photos and a handwritten account of a march from Portsmouth to London in 1913, was showcased at the exhibition.
To fill in the gaps Sarah made reproductions of flags and banners seen in the photographs. By creating these replicas, it was hoped to recapture the impact they made when they were unfurled, full size, with their striking visual presence to a crowded Town Hall Square in 1913.
Harriet Blessley’s descriptive account of the Pilgrims’ march to London provided the chance to imagine how the route would have looked at the time. Using colourful historical postcards, photographs, and some creative license it is possible to reconstruct, animate and visualise scenes of Portsmouth and the route to London in a screen-based motion graphic.
Sarah also designed a series of accompanying newspapers that aimed to highlight the personal stories of those involved, with a special emphasis on uncovering previously unseen photographs of the women at the centre of the story.
Bringing all these elements together in the form of an exhibition created a vibrant, tactile and visual narrative that encouraged visitors to connect with the past in a meaningful way and remembers the real people behind the faded paper archives.
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About the Speaker
Sarah Houghton
Sarah Houghton is the course leader for Graphic Design at the University of Portsmouth, where she has worked for 28 years. She is currently undertaking PhD research entitled “Re-presenting the People; A practice-based investigation envisioning the hidden history of the Portsmouth Suffragist movement explored through the lens of visual communication design”
She created an exhibition at the Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery from Jan- Oct 2025 called “Unfurling Portsmouth’s Suffrage banners” that included four replica banners, newspapers and an animation of the 1913 Pilgrims march to London.
28/11/2026 Saturday
14:00 - 15:00
Online
Talk on Zoom by Sarah Houghton, Organiser of Unfurling Portsmouth’s Suffrage banners, an exhibition at Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery
Location
Online