New Dawn

New Dawn is a contemporary sculpture by artist Mary Branson. It commemorates the 150-year-long campaign for women’s suffrage (the right to vote). This social and political movement led to some women gaining the vote in 1918, and all women in 1928. Installed in 2016, New Dawn is a significant addition to the Parliamentary Art Collection.

Here we find out about the ideas behind this illuminated sculptural artwork, how it was made, and the Heritage Collection objects that inspired Branson.

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An illuminated sculpture within a gothic, stone archway. The sculpture is centred on a circular design made up of over one hundred colourful discs. Some of the discs, around the edges of the design, are illuminated in purple, red and yellow. Each disc has a cross beneath it. Behind the discs are vertical bars and behind these a green wallpaper. Beneath the artwork is a horizontal carved stone quatrefoil pattern, with a stone centrepiece of a crown and heraldic shield flanked by two crowned figures.

New Dawn

Mary Branson, 2016

Photo: UK Parliament/Emma Brown

An illuminated sculpture photographed from below, looking up into a gothic arch in which the artwork is installed. The sculpture is centred on a circular design made up of over one hundred colourful glass discs which are back-lit. The central discs are white, these are surrounded by yellow, then red, and around the outside, purple discs. Each disc has a cross beneath it. Behind the discs are vertical bars. Behind these is green wallpaper with an embossed pattern of roses and thistles.

Branson’s artwork is made from illuminated glass and metal, and draws on ideas and images connected to Parliament, and the individuals and organisations involved in the fight for voting equality.

It was first conceived during Branson’s six-months as Artist-in-Residence for Women’s Suffrage at Parliament. The sculpture was commissioned by the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art. After 18 months of design and construction, New Dawn was unveiled on 7 June 2016 – the 150th anniversary of the first mass petition submitted to Parliament that called for women’s suffrage.

Photo: UK Parliament/Emma Brown

A tall gothic, stone archway with a wooden door and above it an illuminated sculpture within a high archway. The sculpture is centred on a circular design made up of over one hundred colourful glass discs which are back-lit, against a green background. The central discs are white, these are surrounded by yellow, then red, and around the outside, purple discs. The overall design resembles a stained glass window. To the right of the photograph is a huge arched stained glass window and on the left a shadowy archway. On either side of the central door are tall, ornate lamps.

You can find New Dawn on the main public route through the Palace of Westminster, above the entrance to St Stephen’s Hall. This historic area of the Palace was where people came to lobby Parliament for women’s suffrage, and was the site of many suffragette protests.

Measuring over 6 metres high, and 3.4 metres in diameter, the massive scale of New Dawn reflects the size of the suffrage campaign. As the artwork’s name suggests, Branson wanted New Dawn to resemble the rising sun. This mirrors a common image in women’s suffrage campaigns, in which gaining the vote represented a ‘new dawn’ for gender equality.

Photo: UK Parliament/Emma Brown

Rolls of sandy-coloured material stacked on top of each other and photographed from the end of the rolls. Each roll has a small pale pink label attached on which is a printed number, such as 87, 96 or 103.

The 168 unique hand-blown glass discs of New Dawn are inspired by the rolled Acts of Parliament in the Original Act Room of the Parliamentary Archives.

Branson was fascinated by these documents during her residency, and how they look stacked on their shelves. The glass scrolls of her artwork represent the many individual people who were involved in the suffrage movement and the special contribution they made to modern democracy. They also reflect the acts that have given rights to women after centuries of inequality.

Photo: Mat Clark

Closeup photograph of the installation. The bottom of the iamge shows 4 of the glass blown scrolls which are each unique. They are mounted on cross-shaped structures. Behind them, a bright green surfact which has a yellow floral pattern on it. The flowers that can be seen include a thistle and a stylised rose.

To physically support the glass scrolls and create New Dawn’s overall shape, Branson designed a metal framework resembling a portcullis, which is the symbol of Parliament.

Sited above the public route through the Houses of Parliament, this symbolic raised portcullis represents the opening of the democratic process to women.

When combined with the glass scrolls, the metal crosses on the framework create the symbol for women known as the ‘Venus symbol’.

Photo: Edd Jordan

A grey-coloured brooch in the shape of Parliament’s portcullis, which resembles a gate of even horizontal and vertical bars with arrow heads, point down, at the base of each vertical. From the top corners of the gate hang chains. In the centre of the gate is an arrow shape, point up, with three sections, coloured green, white and blue.

This small object is part of the Parliamentary Art Collection. The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) awarded brooches to their members who were imprisoned in Holloway Prison. It incorporates the parliamentary portcullis and the WSPU colours.

“I wanted to create an open portcullis-like structure above the doorway to show that Parliament is now open to women, that we can go in, and that we are here to stay.” Mary Branson

Holloway Prison brooch, Sculpture by (Estelle) Sylvia Pankhurst © The Artist or their estate, Photo Credit Parliamentary Art Collection WOA S694

Circular tin pin badge, coloured in red, white and green, lettered: ‘National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies’.

New Dawn’s glass scrolls incorporate the colours used by women’s suffrage organisations, such as red, white and purple.

The green used by some groups is provided by the existing wall covering behind the sculpture. The wallpaper also includes floral symbols of the UK nations, reflecting the national nature of the votes for women movement.

National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) Pin Badge Metalwork by Unknown © Parliamentary Art Collection WOA S745

Side my side image of the front and reverse of a medal. The left side image shows the front - A round metal medal inscribed with the words ‘Hunger strike’. It hangs from a horizontal enamelled bar with scrolls at each side. The horizontal stripes are black, white and green. Above this a ribbon with vertical stripes of green, white and purple, which is topped with a scrolled metal bar inscribed ‘For valour’. The right hand side of the iamge shows the back of the medal. A round metal medal inscribed with the words ‘Caroline Lowder Downing' surrounded by a wreath of leaves. It hangs from a horizontal bar with the inscription 'Fed by Force 1/3/12'. Above this a ribbon with vertical stripes of green, white and purple, which is topped with a metal bar and pin for wearing the medal.

“My glass scrolls reflect the breadth of the historic campaign and the strong use of colour by suffrage organisations in their literature, banners and insignia.” Mary Branson

Women’s Social and Political Union Hunger Strike medal awarded to Caroline Lowder Downing, 1912 Parliamentary Art Collection, WOA S748

A postcard illustration of a woman standing on a beach sweeping back incoming waves. The sun is rising on the horizon, spreading its rays across the sky with the text ‘Votes for women’. Each breaking wave includes a label: ‘taxpayers’, ‘civil servants’, ‘factory w–’, ‘unionist wom–’, writ–s’, ‘socialist women’, conservative women’, ‘professional women’, ‘liberal women’, ‘medical women’, ‘mothers’, ‘working women’. The woman wears a long grey dress, a lilac scarf, and a hat with red flowers around it. Her broom is marked 'Force – Argument'. A tiny dog stands in her shadow looking up at her. The text beneath the illustration reads: 'The New Mrs Partington (of the Anti Suffrage Society) “Somehow the tide keeps rising”!’

In the 19th and early 20th centuries cartoonists often used Mrs Partington – an anecdotal character who attempted to mop up the rising tide – to represent those resisting inevitable change. Here she is depicted as a member of one of the several anti-female suffrage organisations.

‘The New Mrs Partington (of the Anti Suffrage Society)’. Postcard by Ernestine Mills, c.1910. By kind permission of the Museum of London, copyright Ernestine Mills, administrator V.I. Cockroft.

To reflect the unstoppable tide of change that was the suffrage movement, Branson designed New Dawn as a dynamic sculpture.

Lights behind the the scrolls are directly linked to the tidal River Thames that runs past the Houses of Parliament.

Photo: UK Parliament/Emma Brown

Depending on the time of day that you visit New Dawn you will see a different display of light and colour. The artwork’s light levels fluctuate with the river’s ebb and flow, so that a continuous series of slow transitions build from low tide, when only one disc is lit, to high tide, when the whole piece is illuminated.

Within these transitions, selections of suffrage society colours emerge and then fade back into the rhythm of the artwork.

Photo: UK Parliament/Emma Brown

An almost black photograph with a pattern of 28 illuminated discs running vertically down the middle. The discs glow in purple, red and yellow.

“By using a tidal clock to control the intensity of the light, the piece can come alive – transitioning imperceptibly from one moment to the next in a continuous arc that is driven by the tide, will move with the seasons and the phases of the moon.” Mary Branson

Photo: Mat Clark

Photograph of a page in an open book, showing an architectural plan of four elevations, laid out in a cross shape. The elevations are shown in grey, with the right and left elevation each showing their archway coloured pink. Text top left reads: ‘New Palace of Westminster. St Stephen’s Porch’. Below is a scale key.

New Dawn sits among the Victorian Gothic Palace of Westminster. The large, arched compartment in St Stephen’s Porch was originally meant to contain a wall painting representing peace. Despite its prominent place on the public route, this site had remained empty since its completion in the 1850s.

In choosing this location for New Dawn, Branson has illuminated a previously shadowy and overlooked space, and brought the contemporary world into an historic area of Parliament, reminding us that campaigns for equality continue today.

“The sculpture uses light and colour to radiate a bold, positive energy, illuminating the space unlike any other area within the Palace of Westminster.” Mary Branson

Architectural elevations of St Stephen’s Porch with spaces for planned paintings of war and peace identified in pink, c.1847 Parliamentary Art Collection, WOA 5543. Printed text

Two sketchbook images presented side by side. On the left, a Watercolour painting of a circular design with the Venus symbol in the centre – a circle with a cross beneath it. The circle is filled with many small peach-coloured circles. Around the Venus symbol is a wide band of olive-green, and around that a thin peach-coloured band creates an oval frame. On the right, a watercolour painting of a circular design made up of many small coloured circles. From centre the colours transition from pale yellow, to orange, to pink and round the outside to purple. Beneath each circle is a cross.

Two early designs for New Dawn, taken from the artist’s sketchbooks.

On the left, New Dawn is a single Venus symbol.

On the right, we can see Branson mapping the colours of the glass discs, and how the many individual elements create a whole that resembles a glowing sun.

Watercolours by Mary Branson, 2014.

A scaffolding tower photographed from below, on which stands artist Mary Branson. She wears a hard hat and high-visibility jacket. Behind her are the illuminated discs of her circular sculpture New Dawn. The colours range from pale yellow in the centre, to pink and purple on the outer rim.

Branson worked with a team of artists, craftspeople, engineers and technicians to make New Dawn over 18 months. She asked leading studio glass artist Adam Aaronson to make the 168 unique glass discs, which were hand-blown and carefully ‘spun’ to flatten them. To produce the scroll pattern, Aaronson applied powdered glass colours and silver leaf to the molten glass. The glass scrolls are lit by computer-controlled Applelec LED light sheets, designed by Chris Wilson of WLX Productions.

New Dawn’s portcullis-like framework was engineered by Ian and Colin Musson of Musson Engineering, who are experts in designing unusual and bespoke metalwork. They employed specialist contractors to produce the structure in stainless steel and aluminum.

Mary Branson during temporary warehouse installation, Winter 2015. Photo: Mat Clark

A portrait format print of slim vertical columns, striped in various colours – purple, white, green, yellow, red, blue and pink. The columns are on a black background and in the bottom right is the white handwritten word ‘Marching’.

Mary Branson also created a set of limited edition prints in response to her residency at Parliament.

This print is inspired by a bird’s eye view of a suffrage march. The banners of the numerous societies are arranged, mixed up, spilling into each other. This work reflects the organisation, complexity and cooperation of the campaign to achieve the vote for women.

A portrait format print with an abstract background pattern in two shades of green. In the centre is a tall, black shape, which flares towards its base. Near its top is a circle with a two-tone grey pattern that resembles the earth seen from space. Below the image is black handwritten text ‘and your petitioners will ever pray’.

The title of this print refers to the final, essential part of a petition, which is a request called a ‘prayer’. In it, the petitioner specifies the action they wish to see taken in response to their grievance. Over 52 years, suffrage societies placed 16,310 petitions in front of Parliament with over 3 million signatures in support of women’s right to vote.

And your petitioners will ever pray (1/67), Print by Mary Branson © Ms Mary Branson, Photo Credit Parliamentary Art Collection WOA 7536

A print with a central black shape made up of touching and slightly overlapping black circles that look like they have been cut from paper. Each circle has a small horizontal or vertical rectangle coloured yellow, green, red or white. Above and below the central shape is a black horizontal line. In the bottom right is the black handwritten word ‘Acts’.

This work was inspired by the language of Parliament and the thousands of acts on scrolled vellum which Mary found in the Parliamentary Archives during her residency. She describes them as “Public and personal deeds residing side by side. Documents that directly changed women’s lives for the better.”

A portrait format print with a circular design made up of many white and orange circles on a black background. Some circles are entirely white, some orange, some are half-and-half and others have a white or orange crescent. Beneath each circle is a cross. Thin vertical lines run from the circles to the bottom of the print.

“From my initial sketches for New Dawn. I planned to etch the lunar phases on to the bosses at the centre of each glass scroll. I decided against, but am still very fond of the image.” Mary Branson

Three prints presented in a vertical line. The top print is A textured circular yellow shape on a black background. On the bottom right in white handwriting the words ‘New Dawn’. The second print is the same, but in a blue tone. The thirsd is also the same, but a purple colour.

Branson used close-up images of some of New Dawn’s glass discs to create these three prints, in yellow, blue and purple.

A print of a circular design made up of many small brightly coloured circles against a black background. From centre the colours transition out from white to pale yellow, to orange then red and round the outside to purple and blue. Beneath each circle is a fine, hand-drawn cross. Below, in white handwriting, is the word ‘Movement’.

Branson’s inspiration from the scrolls held in the Original Act Room can be seen again here. This print is based on an early watercolour sketch which informed the final sculpture.

Detail portrait orientation photograph of the new dawn surface, including several blown glass discs, the metal mounting frame with cross shapes, on a mid-green background.

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