Unit 1 (W2): Methods of cataloguinggggg

From week 1’s conversations…

• From last week’s discussion…
• How many of these murders are actually femicides ? 
• Can I organise them in crime type to show underlaying themes ? 
• What role does language play in the “common” perception of women both at legal and societal levels ?

Back track…

Select 10 random broadsides in the collection. Discard one if it is the same story as another. Classify them in 3 potential sections:

1. Femicides
2. Infanticides / Pedicides 
3. Man-on-man murder 

Out of the 10 selected, in 8 cases the crimes were femicides, 1 was a pedicide, and the last one was a man-on-man murder. All were committed by men. 

Interesting. 

Contextualisation: 

• What are the crime rate statistics of late 18th century / early 19th century England ? 
  • The percentage of recorded crime was ciritcally low compared to its actual occurence.
  • This is partly due the periods of Industrial and Agricultural revolutions (lack of police). 
  • The period between 1810 and 1820 saw the most dramatic rise in crime. This was a time of rising food prices, poverty and unemployment after the end of a series of wars with France.
  • Most convictions were committed by men. 
• What are the legislations regarding crime ? 
  • Homicide was not a common crime in the late 18th century but it grew in popularity as the new century began. Broadsides had that effect, people attended public executions. 
  • English homicide law was governed by the “Bloody Code,” which enforced capital punishment for a vast number of crimes.
  • The convictions at the Old Bailey were overwhelmingly male, and still are today. 
• What are modern statistics with regards to homicide ? 
  • Males accounted for approximately 93% of convicted murder suspects in the year ending March 2022 (England and Wales only).
  • With regards to general crime, over 80%, is committed by men.
• Most proceedings took place at the Old Bailey, where is that?
  • Central Criminal Court ! EC4M 7EH
  • Access to the online database of historic proceedings.  

Ok. What now?

This made me think of the Guerrilla Girls.

I decided to continue this patriarchal exploration with the colour scheme of the Guerrilla Girls in mind; black, yellow, and pink.

Below are a few examples…

These broadsides now re-told the story differently, changing the narrative where women were often referred to as “someone’s wife” to a person with a name and agency. Pursuing this idea of dual existence between past and present, I thought it would be interesting to denounce the perpetuation of femicides in a publication which itself listed as a dialogue between past and present. I therefore decided to explore screen-printing techniques for the cover of the publication.

Putting it all together, I decided to create a small “flyer holder” publication, with detachable pages to extend this dialogue into public space by raising awareness around the persistence of femicide today.

Here’s what it looked like for the end of the week.

I intended to use letterpress in order to keep the aesthetic of the cover consistent, but due to time constraints, I ended up having to take letters from the initial broadsides in order to make the title “W(H)O MEN” and print them. I think, looking back, this further mix of past and present adds to the value of this little publication.

That’s it for week 2.