Art History and Gender and Women’s studies professor Colleen Denney has published a book focusing on the work of Lena Connell, a photographer who featured leaders of the women’s suffrage movement in England in the early 20 century.
The role of visual art in history is explored in “The Suffrage Photography of Lena Connell: Creating a Cult of Great Women Leaders in Britain, 1908-1914.”
Connell was one of few female photographers who owned her own studio at the time and employed other women in London.
Her photos were widely published in suffrage journals and sold as prints and postcards.
Connell was unique in that she was one of the only photographers to feature male suffragists as well.
Professor Denney says she first began compiling Connell’s photos in 2001 using various collections around the world.
“I found one of her photographs when I was actually working on another project on scandalous women in the Victorian period and I found a few more and they were of some of the important suffrage women,” Denney said.
Denney traveled to London to collect Connell’s photos from the National Portrait Gallery, the Women’s Library, and the Museum of London. She also traveled to Adelaide, Australia as part of her research.
Australian Muriel Matters was one of the most prominent suffrage leaders in England and was featured often by Connell. Matters had moved from Adelaide, where women had been given the right to vote in 1894.
Denney talks in her book about the organizing women like Matters did during the suffrage movement.
“One of the most important things they did to drum up interest in the suffrage movement was going around in caravans all over the country,” Denney said. “They were campaigning publicly but there was a lot of police violence against them at the same time.”
Connell used photography as a way to get media attention and further promote the suffrage movement in England.
In one example, Denney talks about an effort by Muriel Matters and other suffragettes to launch an airship and spread pamphlets over the streets of London on the day King Edward VII was supposed to open parliament.
Denney says that the event showed how the women leading the suffrage movement knew how to use the media and politics to their advantage.
Denny said that this is, “The first moment we really have of this moment of conscious movement to represent women visually.”
“When I teach this material, I talk about how connected we are even though activism now is happening on social media,” Denney said.
Connell’s images were used not only to draw attention to the suffrage movement itself, but also to the women leading the way, according to Denney.
“Young women in school would have these portraits up on their desk as inspiration for them, women who were making a change for them in the world,” Denney said.
Denney also talked about how impressive it was for suffrage leaders to gain access to education and paid organizing jobs in a time where it was difficult to do so.
“Every single one of these women is just incredible in terms of accessing education, coming to this work through working for trade unions or working in factories, or becoming office workers,” Denney said.
The visibility of women leaders is still important in the present day, according to Denney.
“We are so connected to them in terms of where we are with our rights now; they’re the ones who were pushing for it,” Denney said.
Denney argues that in order to continue fighting for their rights, young women leaders must gain access to education and visibility as the early suffragists did.
