Protest has been part of the democratic process for hundreds of years. With each passing year, there are new injustices to be countered with new placards and new banners. When these Protests begin though, people should remember previous protests and the artwork those protests produced.

The role of Pmag is to collect old posters, placards, banners, and graffiti (where possible) and display it at their newly opened museum at Duxford Aerodrome in the UK. A hangar was going to be pulled down before PMAG intervened and managed to buy the hangar from the aerodrome authorities without any protests taking place.

PMAG started to collect old banners from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Aldermaston March, road-widening schemes, hospital closures, anti-Thatcher protests, and the Miner’s Strike in 1985. These were taken to the hangar and displayed in separate areas depending on the subject matter.

Albert Spendlove of PMAG provides further details: “We split the protests up into different types. CND and the Ban The Bomb Aldermaston March placards in one area, anti-government cuts protests in another, and one area especially for anti-Thatcher protests, which turned out to be the largest section by far with a huge variety of items. Our proudest pieces are from the Suffragette Movement of nearly 100 years ago with their ‘Votes for Women’ theme. These are extremely rare as you can imagine.”

Extract from the book 40 Strange Societies