International Women’s Day 2024: A Litany For Liverpool's Women Creatives

This year for International Women’s Day, we invite you to take part in a piece of mass participation performance art that pays homage to the work of Hannah O’Shea (b.1939), having been alerted to her work at Tate Britains current exhibition, ‘WOMEN IN REVOLT!! ART AND ACTIVISM IN THE UK 1970-1990.

The group that gathered to co-create 'The Independent Guide To Liverpool's Women Creatives', invites you to take part in a piece of mass participation performance art that pays homage to the works of Hannah Oshea, ('Stills from a Visual Time Span', and 'A Litany For Women Artists' 1977).

All you need to do is Sign up for a FREE ticket then turn up in black and white dazzle design/ animal print/ bold patterned clothes/ costumes/ and or make up and join in!

Even if you don't have the confidence to sing, feel free to come and stand amongst the group anyway and mime, the visual is as important as the song, plus we will add simple body percussion to the mix (or just clapping!) plus it'll feel good!

What we hope to achieve is a powerful performance piece that encapsulates the essence of O’Sheas work with our own take on it. We will create a live film of the group standing in our collective power, dressed in black and white dazzle print, singing the names of all the women who wish to be represented as Liverpool Women Creatives.

Rachel Waite from Holistic Harmonies has created the framework for how we will sing our names during the performance which she will teach on the night, but to get a head start she has lovingly created these audio clips and teaching videos below if you'd like to check it out in advance.

O’Shea is a performance artist, filmmaker and founding member of the Women’s Artist Collective, and has had stills of her work featured on the cover of the iconic ‘Spare Rib’ magazine which shaped debate about feminism in the UK from 1972-1993. There are two pieces our ‘happening’ will reference. The first being ‘Stills from a Visual Time Span’ which are photographs documenting a performance confronting fear of women’s power where O’Shea painted the performers body with optical effects comparable to animal markings.

The second is a piece called ‘A Litany For Women Artists’ where O’Shea chants the names of 600 women artists to ‘emphasise the ignorance and historical denial of their contributions as creative instigators’.