Walking through the National Portrait Gallery, I was particularly struck by the portrait of Dame Christabel Pankhurst by Ethel Wright in about 1908. The subject stands in a dark space, reaching out to something out of distance. She wears a light green dress as well as a purple, green, and white sash. Christabel Pankhurst was the daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, the founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). Christabel was a suffragette who led campaigns that called for women’s right to vote in the UK. The sash she wears displays the colors of the suffrage movement at the time: purple representing royalty, white for purity, and green meaning hope. Though she is surrounded by darkness in this painting, Pankhurst is illuminated by a soft, warm light from above her. She stands and we see the entire length of her body, a contrast to other portraits painted around this time that mainly display women sitting from the waist up. With her right hand she reaches out to something, looking off into the distance. Her facial expression is indistinct, she looks nervous yet expectant. This painting is a representation of hope. Fully dressed in the color of growth and prosperity, her arm extended, about to take a step, we see Pankhurst full of hope. Out of the darkness that surrounds her, she is reaching for an equal future. Though she is fearful, still she steps forward into the unknown. Wright captured this moment beautifully, a moment on the precipice of greatness. Only another woman could encapsulate the feeling of such incredible hope and fear that Pankhurst must have felt. Looking at this painting today, it is such a great reminder of those who fought for women’s rights in the face of a world that was not made for them. Wright’s piece serves as a reminder to always have hope and to continue reaching for a brighter future.
-Milly Medlock
Theatre in London U of A 