Greenham Revisited: A cultural history of women’s collective banner making at Greenham Women’s Peace Camp

Photograph from the Milton Keynes Group Archive, available on the Greenham Women Everywhere archive

This article urges a rethinking of how the Greenham Women’s Peace Camp is viewed in history. It examines how creativity, specifically in the form of craftivism and banner-making, was a dominant factor in women forming bonds and supporting one another at the Camp. By exploring how banners made at Greenham Common used particular symbols, motifs and imagery to express their views, it evaluates the importance of such creativity in women’s lives. Oral histories of women who made banners have been used in this evaluation, providing an opportunity to gain an understanding of how it felt to be part of an art collective campaigning for peace.

Scholarship on the visual culture and art produced at Greenham Common is scarce. Most articles have focused on the songs of Greenham, the decorating of the perimeter fence in baby clothes and pictures, and the legacy of the photographs taken at the camp (most notably by Raissa Paige, of women dancing on silos). Additionally, some articles address the significance of collective crafting and creativity. For example, Margaretta Jolly addresses the importance of letter writing at Greenham Common in community-making (Margaretta Jolly, 2003), while Anna Feigenbaum details the creation of the Rainbow Dragon, a six-mile long creation of individual textiles which women travelled across the world to contribute to (Anna Feigenbaum, PhD diss, 2008). More recently, Liz Murray has argued for the performative resistance of artwork at Greenham, calling the space “a site, an event, a performance, a manifesto, a series of happenings - and novel in its form of protest”. (Liz Murray, PhD diss, 2021). Banners made at Greenham are frequently referenced in photographs and memoirs, but scholarship on the banners, their motifs and meanings is practically non-existent. A recent exception is Charlotte Dew’s visual monograph, Women for Peace: Banners from Greenham Common, which presents a wide range of the banners produced, analyses some of their symbols and motifs, and how the banners were made collectively. She argues that banners were central to the story of the Peace Camp as a powerful presence in the photographs and memories of the protests. The banners specifically revealed the “proponents, ideology and reach of the campaign” and linked to the broader histories of women’s campaigning. Dew references, for example, the impact of the suffrage movement in inspiring many of the designs. This piece utilises Dew’s book as a foundation, whilst drawing on my own conducted oral histories and further research.

By researching women’s movements through the lens of creative protest, the art produced at Greenham Common offers a new perspective. It highlights the importance creativity has had in women’s groups. By re-evaluating the way women’s groups are researched, creativity and protest becomes a much more central component. Retrospectively termed ‘craftivism’, it is the practice of engaged creativity, especially regarding political or social causes (Betsy Greer, 2014). Craftivism addresses difficult issues and ideas more easily and expressively. Women can use embroidery to evoke feelings and emotions. It demonstrates the power visual that cultural activism has in implementing change and creating powerful statements. Greenham women utilised the craftivist approach to emotively reveal their feelings of fear and distrust at nuclear weapons.

Banners were the primary medium for the Greenham women to spread their anti-nuclear message and were a common backdrop across the fences. As the women remained non-violent at the camp, the banners became both a pivotal creative practice for the women and a pivotal attribute in the history of the Common (Lucy Bourton, 2021). As the camp was a site of ‘experimental, collaborative and richly creative actions’, creativity was both an escape for women, and central to their ‘strategies of action’ (Charlotte Dew, 2021).

This article argues that the banners were the main focus point in protest at Greenham. Rather than making the banners purely as an activity to pass the time during the long, cold days at the camp, they were made for a specific purpose. If they were just made to pass time, the designs would have been more random, but they were calculated and planned to promote the cause in a memorable way. For example, recurring images of rainbows, stars, trees, and the sun featured prominently. Additionally, there were three main themes the banners encompassed, typically taking a provocative and confrontational approach: the nuclear situation, deliberately playing into the idea of motherhood and fear for the future and poking fun at male aggression.

Figure 1

One example of a shocking banner was created when the missiles eventually were delivered in 1983. Women created many banners opposing them, and especially the American military’s role in supplying and storing them. A deliberately provocative banner from 1982 was made by Thalia and Jan Campbell and Jan Higgs [figure 1]. The banner was made for a blockade of RAF Upper Heyford. Featuring the words ‘FI II OFF TO USA!’, it deliberately takes a confrontational approach to criticise America for its actions.

Another example made with this ad-hoc approach was Campbell’s banner here [figure 2]. This banner was made in an attempt to avoid the 96 missiles being housed at the Base. Campbell stated in a recent oral history that it was a ‘hurriedly made banner’ upon her return to the Camp, made from green curtain fabric (From an oral history interview with Thalia Campbell conducted by Elen Phillips). 

Figure 2

Another unique angle to the Greenham banner designs was their protest against male aggression, violence and dominance. Greenham women used tongue-in-cheek messages in their banners, including ‘War Is Menstrual Envy’, ‘No Cruise Please. There Are Better Ways to Prove Your Virility’, ‘Take the Toys Away from the Boys’ and ‘Big Bombs, Small Planet’.  These messages present nuclear weapons in a childlike nature as ‘toys’ that boys like to play with. The childlike imagery contrasts with the violence of male aggression.

Another way Greenham banners were unique was because of the emphasis on motherhood. Greenham Women foregrounded motherhood in their banners and creative practices. For example, baby clothes, toys and pictures were fastened to the fence surrounding the base. One example that demonstrates the emphasis on motherhood includes ‘Oxford Mothers for Nuclear Disarmament’, made by one of my interviewees for her group (From an original oral history conducted by author).

Banners were constantly present at Greenham and continued to be made throughout the duration of the camp. It was not about how well-executed the banners were, but about the attention they drew to the cause and the significance of women making them together. Shared activities such as embroidery also bring together people from different backgrounds who share a common cause. For women especially, having this form of solidarity is vital [figure 3]. Some recent writing on the history of the women’s movement focuses on divisions and the lack of inclusion (Natalie Thomlinson, 2016; Christine Bolt, 2004), but this article chose to focus on women coming together in support of a common cause instead. 

Figure 3

There are examples from history of women embroidering together to pass the time to combat boredom and loneliness. Mary Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick, for example, frequently sewed together whilst imprisoned. Mary needed the solace of sewing; without her embroidery she had nothing to do but ‘weep and pray’ (Margaret Ellis, 1996; Clare Hunter, 2022). This highlights the solace embroidery could provide for women during difficult times in their lives and is a recurring theme from the oral testimonies in the Greenham period. From my oral histories, Julia talked about how being creative helped her “cope with fear and anxiety” because “when you’re creating something, you’re just so absorbed in it” (From an original oral history conducted by author).Therefore, women began engaging in creative practices as a way of alleviating the worries attributed to the campaign. 

Furthermore, the suffragettes and suffragists reclaimed the banner from male trade unions as a deliberately feminine practice to highlight the suffrage cause. Suffragettes were routinely criticised by the press as being unfeminine for protesting and actively disrupting the male dominated public sphere. As such, they used imagery and colours specifically to address their emphasis on femininity, including flowers, shells, sun rays and winged hearts, as well as featuring well-known women in history such as Boudicca, Joan of Arc and Marie Curie, to celebrate women’s achievements (Clare Hunter, 2020; Rozsika Parker, 2010). What was unique about their banners was the combination of ‘dignified womanly skills (needlework) while making unwomanly demands’ (Lisa Tickner, 1989). 

Because of the association with needlework and submission, for women to explicitly use their skills to campaign for the vote went against the very nature of womanhood. This furthered the idea that they were unfeminine, but it is interesting that they drew on specifically feminine imagery to execute their aims, showing they still wanted to be viewed in a feminine way. This supports the idea that women were using distinctly feminine means to protest in masculine spaces. Claiming the banner from male TUs was a deliberate move to both draw attention to the cause, whilst also maintaining their feminine personas in public domains.  

Femininity plays a key role in the power of embroidery. Greenham women encompassed femininity and feminism in their banners. One participant, Catherine, asserted that, “Sewing is a very women-y thing, isn’t it?” (From an original oral history conducted by the author). This implies many Greenham women embraced feminine aspects of art in their banner making. There seems to be a common theme between the two, so much so that Kate laughed at the “dichotomy between feminism but then expressing views in what is a traditional, female art form” (From an original oral history conducted by author).

Greenham became women-only to avoid the intrinsic violence associated with men. It was in this space they felt comfortable to express their views through creative means (Katherine Harrison and Cassandra A. Ogden, 2021). It highlighted the importance of women-only spaces as they could decide how they campaigned free from male domination. Jilly believes women-only art collectives are “incredibly important” because women value “each other’s contributions”, listen and don’t dismiss other’s ideas (From an original oral history conducted by the author).

Conclusion

This article has argued that craftivism and collectivism were more significant to the Greenham Women’s Peace Camp than has previously been studied. Rather than focusing on motherhood, feminism or political leanings, creativity was the bond that brought women together and continued to provide them with mutual support.

It also argued that their banners were uniquely reflective of the nuclear situation. They were the main form of protest and clearly brought more attention to the cause. Finally, the article argued that women’s creativity at Greenham emerged because of the Camp being women-only, as it gave women the opportunity to express themselves in a distinctly feminine way, free from male dominance. Collective craftivism was the focal point in bringing women together.

Banners are imperative to the study of Greenham Common and should be at the forefront of future research on the Camp. It validates both the study of cultural history as an area for uncovering new research and validates the experiences of the women engaging in such creative practices. By researching Greenham through the lens of material culture, it uncovers a seldom researched area and provides a detailed analysis of the importance of collective art movements for women. The study of Greenham Women’s Peace Camp is highly relevant when compared to environmental activist groups of today and should have a more prominent place in the study of British history.  Future study on the Greenham Women’s Peace Camp, and other women’s movements, should be researched this way.  

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Bibliography:

Picture references

F2019.20.51 Banner, Thalia Campbell, Jan Higgs and Jan Campbell (on behalf of Women for Life on Earth), c1982, housed at St Fagan’s National Museum of History, Cardiff

F2019. 20.4 Banner, made by Thalia Campbell, c. September-October 1981, housed in the collections of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales

Making banners at banner workshops, mid 1980s, photograph in Dew, Charlotte. Women for Peace: Banners from Greenham Common. London: Four Corners, 2021, p. 182

Website references

Celia Chasey’s Archive, Greenham Women Everywhere: https://greenhamwomeneverywhere.co.uk/portfolio-items/celia-chaseys-archive/

Lucy Bourton, ‘How the banners of Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp fought horror with beauty’, It’s Nice That, August 26, 2021, available at: https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/women-for-peace-greenham common-banners-four-corners-thalia-campbell-art-publication-260821

Books, articles and theses

Bolt, Christine. Sisterhood Questioned?: Race, Class and Internationalism in the American and British movements, c.1880s-1970s. London: Routledge, 2004. 

Ellis, Margaret. ‘The Hardwick wall hangings: an unusual collaboration in English sixteenth century embroidery’, Renaissance Studies, 10:2 (June 1996), pp. 280-300. Accessed on 24/02/2023. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24412272 

Feigenbaum, Anna. ‘Tactics and technology: cultural resistance at the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp’, PhD diss, McGill University, 2008.

Greer, Betsy. Craftivism: The Art of Craft and Activism. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2014.

Harrison, Katherine and Cassandra A. Ogden. ‘‘Knit “n” natter’: a feminist methodological assessment of using creative ‘women’s work’ in focus groups’, Qualitative Research, 21:5 (2021), pp. 633-649. Accessed on 17/05/2023. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1468794120945133

Hunter, Clare. Threads of Life: History Told Through the Eye of a Needle. London: Sceptre, 2020. 

Hunter, Clare. Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power. London: Sceptre, 2022. 

Jolly, Margaretta. ‘”We are the Web”: Letter Writing and the 1980s Women's Peace Movement’, Prose Studies, 26:1-2 (2003), pp. 196-218. Accessed on 11/08/2023. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0144035032000235882  

Murray, Liz. ‘Performing Resistance: The Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp as Artwork’, PhD diss, Royal College of Art, London, 2021.

Parker, Rozsika. The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine, fifth edition. London: I. B. Tauris & Co, 2010. 

Thomlison, Natalie. Race, Ethnicity and the Women's Movement in England, 1968-1993. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. 

Tickner, Lisa. The Spectacle of Women: Imagery of the Suffrage Campaign, 1907–14. London: Chatto & Windus, 1989. 

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