T-shirt and Tote bag Inspired by the LAIC Collection

by Bel Pye

Lesbian Archive volunteers have been researching and responding to the Lesbian and LGBTQ collections for the last six months. As part of the LGBTQ Collections Online Resource, we present some of their responses to the collection and the materials they have discovered.

I took two images I found in the archive that resonated with me. One was a badge, the other a postcard, both from the LAIC (Lesbian Archive and Information Centre) collection. I tried to recreate these images on fabric, and have changed the text on the badge image to make it about a current discriminatory law. I tried making the bag in the Suffragette colours of white, purple and green.

Bel Pye Bathroom Bill T-shirt and Tribute tote bag to Jill Posener Born Kicking, 2017

What the archive has taught me is the importance, as an activist, of understanding your history. Knowing what came before allows you to build on top of that rather than starting from scratch – learning from the mistakes of others rather than having to make your own, as well as making informed criticism and highlighting what you want to change in the future. As an activist I have learnt that I am part of a timeline that stretches back long long before I was even born.

Bel Pye, Tribute tote bag to Jill Posener Born Kicking, 2017

—

Return to We Recruit!: Campaigns and Organisations or the LGBTQ Collections Online Resource.

—