The Suffragettes represents an homage to and reflection of the public demonstration and ‘mediatization’ of civic dissent in the modern age and the development of social discourse about inequality within and across social communities. As with the paintings from the After 1914 series, The Suffragettes are based on historical photographs, in this instance taken from the archive at the Museum of London. I reframed the compositions on canvas selectively, leaving out the many, myriad details recorded by the camera so to focus on the individuals at the centre of action. Additionally, I have added colour to the original black and white recordings, and sought dramatic points of intersection between subjects and the spaces within which they are found. In particular, I’m interested in the faces caught in the photographs: faces that express enthusiasm, collective resolve and, most of all, shared passion for an idea. In crowd scenes I look at the faces of the audience and find a range of expressions, from focused attention to curiosity to bemusement. I look for faces showing self-consciousness for the camera in the form of shyness to mild posturing, and I look for sadness and anger.