The See Red Women’s Workshop was a significant part of the United Kingdom’s Women’s Liberation movement in the 1970s. Based in London and founded by Pru Stevenson, Suzy Mackie, and Julia Franco, the workshop screenprinted vivid, stylized posters encouraging women to reject the gender normative boxes society forced upon them. These artists were part of a larger movement in the 1970s, the women’s liberation movement, a time when women reclaimed their rights to their bodies and fought the corrosiveness of everyday oppression. Their eye-catching graphics railed against the fascist rhetoric of the U.K. National Front, the far-right political party, and in the process broadening the scope of their workshop to include statements about racial inequality.
The beginnings of See Red
The See Red Workshop was founded by three former art students in 1974, who responded to an ad placed in a radical feminist magazine called Red Rag for women interested in forming a group to look at and combat the negative images of women in advertising and the media. Out of that meeting, a collective formed. They began producing silk-screened posters for the women’s liberation movement as well as for community groups and others.
The movement
The ethos of See Red involved women sharing skills and knowledge, not just with art, but with community activism, consciousness raising groups, and involvement in various radical and alternative organizations. The ideas behind the posters were decided and executed as a group. No one individual took the credit; art was made in a spirit of collaboration. The collective on average consisted of around six, but in all, about 45 women passed through the workshop during its lifetime. Funding came from sale of the posters and from grants and donations. Many of the women had part-time jobs or child care commitments.
See Red’s eye-catching graphics railed against the fascist rhetoric of the U.K.’s National Front, broadening the scope of their workshop to include statements about racial inequality.
Only oil-based inks were available at the time. Printing techniques consisted of blocking out, using water soluble filler; prints were hung on lines to dry, then the group progressed to drying racks after it was possible to build a darkroom and buy equipment for the introduction of photographic stencils. Quality control was vital, and the group spent many hours ensuring that only the well-printed and produced work left the workshop. See Red’s signature style of vibrant colors and stylized designs were eye-catching as well as meaningful. The group’s posters advertised specific events such as the Women’s Day March of 1975 and rallies to oppose proposed restrictions on abortions. More than a few See Red posters openly celebrated the companionship — sexual and emotional — that women could give each other, as opposed to the false promises of happy heterosexual marriages, a subject that was employed to produce some of See Red’s most biting and witty posters. See Red posters also railed against the fascist rhetoric of the National Front, broadening the workshop’s portfolio to include race as well as gender.
The legacy
From the vantage point of the other side of the Atlantic, in 2025 See Red is a tonic in which “protest” is the most active of verbs. See Red reminds us that many of the rights we commonly enjoy today began and were born out of the protest movement. As such, the See Red Women’s Workshop has much to teach us as we gird ourselves for the future. Here’s hoping we can still learn from the past.
Events
In celebration of Women’s History Month and in honor of See Red Women’s Workshop, the screen-printing collective’s founding members Pru Stevenson and Suzy Mackie will join a panel discussion and print-making workshop on March 1 at 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Haight Street Art Center.
See Red’s Women Workshop: Feminist Posters, London, 1974–1990 is on display at Haight Street Art Center through March.
