City Of Suffragettes Exhibition - Fragments of Change Brooch
Fragments of Change Brooch - Available to Purchase
Sterling silver and beach found glass. 
Art and history
My brooch for ACJ’s City of Suffragettes exhibition draws on the 1913 suffragette attack at Manchester Art Gallery, when several paintings were deliberately damaged as part of the campaign for women’s voting rights.
I was particularly drawn to reports of a gallery attendant hearing the sound of cracking glass. At the centre of the brooch, beach-found fragments of safety glass represent the impact point of the hammer blow — that moment of fracture and disruption. Surrounding them are pieces of rare milk sea glass, individually cut and shaped by me, with colours reflecting the palette of one of the paintings attacked.
Using glass that has itself been discarded, weathered and transformed over time felt particularly appropriate for a piece exploring damage, resilience and visibility.
The exhibition brings together work by over 30 ACJ members responding to Manchester’s suffragette history and runs until Christmas Eve.
City of Suffragettes
@manchestercraft
12th September – 24th December 2026