What’s in a Wall: Signs and Symbols of peace, gender, protest and hope

Powerpoint and videos to plan an active workshop that combines making with thinking about symbolism. This workshop draws on the peace image, protest, making your voice heard and creative art. The idea is to make a wall of debate, hope and working together to combine different ideas. Walls built to exclude people can be subverted and have been (and are) used for protest art.

This workshop could be done over the course of a day or over 2-3 afternoons. It incorporates archive material from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and related personal archives held at the Library of the London School of Economics (LSE). The videos are made by artist Becci Kenning and based on a project we carried out in primary schools during 2019.

Who is it for:

Upper Key Stage 2 – Year 5 or 6. Year 4 can do this but may need more help with the first section.

Cross-Curriculum Links & Learning Outcomes:
● Retrieve information from text, widen reading, understand and make slogans, distinguish between fact and opinion, gives justifications for decisions made (English)
● Understanding symbols and how to use them – encouraging participation in politics and thinking critically and debate (Citizenship).
● Making connections from the ancient world (Egypt) to the modern (History)
● Working individually and then together (PSE).
● Practical task of constructing a wall, using tools and understanding function and aesthetic qualities (Design and Technology).
● Using different materials (Art and Design)

This lesson has been developed in conjunction with a European Research Council grant titled Gendered Peace, located in the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security. This grant takes an interdisciplinary approach to provide new understandings of the spectrum of peace and conflict, while centring a gender analysis.