Make a flag for Earth Day 2020

For Earth Day 2020 and in the context of the climate emergency,  multi-award winning fashion designer Bethany Williams invites us to make a flag to pass on a message to our future generations.

Multi-award winning fashion designer Bethany Williams places environmental sustainability and social responsibility at the core of her creative practice. As part of this commission for 50th anniversary of Earth Day and in the context of climate emergency, Bethany invites audiences to reflect on themes of future generations and consider what wisdom and legacy we’d like to pass on to those who come long after us.

Watch instructions of how to make your own flag in the film below

Step 1: Gather your materials

See what you can find at home, if you don’t have one of the below think about alternatives. Eg. you might find a market pen works if you don’t have any paint available  

• Scrap material (this could be any scrap material eg. old tee shirt or jeans)
• An A5 envelope or other rectangular paper 
• Cardboard for making a stencil (perhaps some food packaging) 
• Scissors
• Sponge/ brush 
• Pencil
• Stick (to make a flagpole)
• Paint 
• Yarn or thread
• Needle 

Step 2 – Cut out your flag

Fold your scrap material in two and keeping the fabric fold on the left-hand side using your scrap envelope or other rectangle as a guide. Draw the rectangle in pencil and then cut out using scissors. 

Step 3 – Make your stencil 

What message would you like to pass on to future generations and are there any words of wisdom that have been passed on by your elders that resonate with you? 
Eg. TREAT OTHERS HOW YOU’D LIKE TO BE TREATED or NO NEED TO RUSH

Step 4 – Transfer your message onto the flag

Using a sponge/brush use the carboard stencil to transfer your message onto the flag. (It may be useful to insert a piece of card between the two layers of your flag to avoid paint seeping through). Wait for the paint to dry before moving on to the next step. 

Step 5 – Use a blanket stitch to secure the raw edges of the flag

Keeping your fold on the left-hand side, blanket stitch the top, right and bottom of the flag so there are no raw edges. You could use chunky yarn or thread – whatever you have available!

Step 6 – Secure your stick/ flagpole  

When you get to the end of your third edge, leave enough room to insert your stick and use your final stitches to secure it in place. 

Step 7 – Fly your flag and share images with us

Wave it about, pop it in a window for everyone to see, or better yet use it as a conversation starter with family and friends about our collective responsibilities to care for each other and protect the generations that come after us all.  
Don’t forget to share your images and thoughts using #AllOurChildren and #SHEarthDay on social media and tag @somersethouse @bethany_williams_london  

Step 8 – It’s not over yet…

Watch out for the next stages in this flag making project with Bethany, being released over the next few weeks. They will include different embroidery and printmaking activities.

6 May 2020     All Our Children: Workshop 2
20 May 2020     All Our Children: Workshop 3

June 2020 onwards – keep checking back to see how your flag making and ideas contribute to the research process ahead of Bethany’s next collection entitled All Our Children.

 

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About the Project

Recognised for her systems led thinking, multi-award winning fashion designer Bethany Williams places environmental sustainability and social responsibility at the core of her creative practice. As part of this commission for 50th anniversary of Earth Day and in the context of climate emergency, Bethany invites audiences to reflect on themes of future generations and consider what wisdom and legacy we’d like to pass on to those who come long after us. The work connects ideas social and environmental justice both in the UK and further afield. What collective responsibility do we have to protect ‘All Our Children’ who will bear the toughest of the environmental crisis’ in the years to come?

Launching with a live Q&A on 22 April 2020, the research process and project will evolve over the next few months, beginning with DIY workshops inviting audiences to get involved at home during this period of lockdown due to covid-19. Future highlights of the project include the raising of a new flag above Somerset House and the physical and public launch of the new fashion collection later in the year. 

Bethany works closely with different charities and social initiatives for each of her collections and as part of this project has been working together with the Magpie Project who support vulnerably housed women and young children in Newham, an area of London with some of the highest levels of homelessness in the country. Through working with Magpie Project Bethany discovered that many vulnerable mothers were told by different institutions that their children were not ‘our children’ to support and protect. This speaks to the political environment in the UK today but also translates as a metaphor for future generations. How collectively we expand our capacity to care about those most vulnerable within our society now both locally and globally. And how can nurturing that capacity to care and take action help us address the climate and ecological emergency into the future as well.

Get involved in Bethany’s workshops and call-outs and participate in her research process. Tag #AllOurChildren.