Coventry Banner

13 May - 30 August 2022
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum

The Coventry Banner exhibition, born out of the Turner Prize 2021 and the collaborative actions of Array Collective (Turner Prize 2021 winners), encouraged communities across Coventry and the wider region to create textile art where their personal messages and reflections on the world around them can be visually communicated and acknowledged.

The resulting banners, submitted by a range of community groups and individuals, revealed the diverse interests, concerns and creativity of the people of Coventry. They were displayed together in a free, public exhibition throughout summer 2022, in the covered court of the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum.

Find out more about the people behind the exhibition below.

Light pouring from the windowed roof of The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum's covered court, which is hung with banners down the walls and strung across from the first floor balcony
A selection of handmade banners on display. The banner in the foreground features a female figure with puppet strings attached
Banners strung across from The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum's first floor balcony to the wall opposite.
Rows of handmade banners on display in the Herbert's covered court. In the foreground is a section of a sign with The Herbert logo at the top of it.

All voices have been encouraged, irrespective of their level of social recognition, from those in the shielding community, newly arrived citizens and everyone in-between. This is a modern-day reflection of our living social history.

With thanks to Artichoke who donated the fabric for this project as legacy to their suffrage sashes of the 2018 ‘processions’ project.

The Turner Prize 2021 was supported by the AKO Foundation, Avanti West Coast and Arts Council England, with additional support from ArtAV, The John Browne Charitable Trust and The Uggla Family Foundation.