The Comrades They Were Brave, we salute you: artist curated group show | London

This exhibition brings together seven contemporary artists who

all engage in defiance. Conceived as an homage to Edith Garrud (1872-

1971), Jiujitsu martial arts teacher to the suffragettes, it explores the theme

of fighting for a cause. A programme of talks, readings, music, and

screenings will accompany the show, in this festival for the valiant and the

scamps. THE COMRADES THEY WERE BRAVE runs at 44 GRS Gallery in Bloomsbury from 18 March until 10 April 2022.

In 1909, in response to increasing physical abuse by the police and opponents to their campaign for women's right to vote, Edith Garrud began training the suffragettes in self-defence. Eventually she set up The Suffragette Bodyguard Unit, also called The Amazons or The Suffrajitsu by the press, dedicated to protecting Mrs Pankhurst and the other leaders of the movement from arrest and assault.

Artists Deborah Tchoudjinoff, Garth Gratrix, Hatty Buchanan, Iain Hales,

Jillian Knipe,and Laura Moreton-Griffiths have been invited to join Cecilia

Sjoholm to address questions such as: can we be our own bodyguards? To

what level are we willing to make sacrifices? Do we fight openly in public, or

do we use smokescreens and camouflage as a means of survival? Presenting work across a range of media with writing, the exhibition also

interrogates the relationship between the private and the public.

Curated by Cecilia Sjoholm.

With thanks to Harold Offeh and Morgan Quaintance for guidance.

Catalogue essay by Chris Fite-Wassalik.

Images David Goymer

Supported by Arts Council England.